WE HEAR A LOT ABOUT EISENHOWER’S WARNINGS CONCERNING THE “MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.” But he also warned of the “danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific/technological elite.” He added: “Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity.”

That gets less attention. Worse still, of course, the two elites are now corruptly entwined.