The "commanding heights" of the U.S. State Department were populated by neoconservative protégés of Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, including Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle. This group established a policy of permanent worldwide war and visceral opposition to Russia and Islamic states. The discussion posits that current officials like Antony Blinken and Victoria Nuland are the ideological heirs to this archaic Cold War-era framework.

