Today is NOT Normal

The Steady State | By Martha Duncan

I retired from the federal workforce after 36 years of service, years filled with opportunity, growth, and a career that exceeded anything I could have imagined when first wondering what path my life would take. I planned for retirement, saved, and invested, hoping to spend these years enjoying the rewards of hard work—my “golden years.”

I was raised in a home where hard work was the norm. My parents provided everything we needed: stability, comfort, and the sense that a better life was always within reach. We lived a life defined by security and a belief in the promise of America. We believed that with determination, one could pursue dreams without constant fear and upheaval.

Today Those Norms are Under Attack

Like so many Americans, I now live with a deep sense of anxiety. After 24 years in the U.S. Army Reserves—serving as a Reserve Attaché, an analyst, and an intelligence officer—I know the value of well functioning institutions. I believed and trusted a system based on Checks, Balances and Rules. And opportunity–with the removal of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, many of our brightest and extraordinary colleagues with whom I worked would never have been there. And many are now gone.

Today That System Is Under Attack

The Department of Justice is Frozen–at least as reflected by the freeze on civil rights litigation.

The Department of Homeland Security appears more like a private club than a guardian of national safety. The change of focus and priorities is tied to the whims of the Executive Branch. It lacks transparency and accountability. Immigration enforcement has grown increasingly aggressive drawing comparisons to darker chapters in history where dissent was silenced and fear ruled and threatening the very liberties they claim to protect. The Head of ICE said in a recent interview that his agents will arrest anyone found in the U.S. illegally, whether or not they have committed a crime, and will crack down on employers of unauthorized workers. We have heard accounts of ICE showing up unannounced to work places, places of worship and rounding people up.

Agencies like the FBI, ICE, and even the Pentagon seem to be functioning with an alarming disregard for the rule of law. We have seen warrantless raids and detention, often entering homes without consent or proper documentation. We have seen families separated. ICE has bought access to cell phone location data to track immigrants without a warrant.

The “big beautiful” tax and spending bill has tucked into its 1,000-page legislation, provisions paving the way for migrant children to face longer periods in detention with fewer legal protections. Legislation also states that children may be detained indefinitely until courts reach a decision.

Our alliances, built over decades by diplomats who forged peace and stability, are unraveling. Long-standing commitments to multilateral engagement are being replaced with isolationist policies and unilateral decisions that strain relationships and weaken our global standing.

Critics have voiced concern, and rightfully so. The direction we are headed in is not simply troubling, it is dangerous. The norms that uphold our democracy—Checks, balances, rules, respect for elections, the neutrality of civil servants, the peaceful transfer of power—are under siege. We are watching, in real time, as this administration and the political polarization it fosters, erodes the foundations of our republic.

These are not just my concerns. Scholars, think tanks, journalists, and citizens across the political spectrum are sounding the alarm. A growing movement—quiet but determined—is rising to defend democracy, to restore the values that once anchored our national identity. We must join them. We must speak up. Silence is complicity. To look away as our union fractures is to surrender the very freedoms we once took for granted.

Today is not normal. But if enough of us recognize that—and act—we can make tomorrow better.

Martha Duncan is a retired DOD senior executive, with 36 years serving including 23 in the U.S. Army Reserves, as Reserve attaché, analyst, operations officer, and 3 deployments to areas of conflict. She is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 290 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.