Coincidently(or maybe not) Newsweek covered this same topic this past week. It seems that whatever you want to call it, deep state or other term the concept has been around for a while and for good reason. This is not fringe concept as Saunders would have you believe; over  48 % of Americans believe it exists.
The idea Saunders seems to originate is that somehow this is a legitimate check on institutions of government to make sure they stay in line and  of course that is the  "deep state"s idea of in line. 
That has to be one of the scariest things Saunders has ever  clamed or  proposed. This is not a legitimate role for the intelligence agencies whose over sight and control must be kept under civilian and the legitimate elected government . 
Otherwise this an example of agencies being out of control and undermining the elected bodies of government . The US constitution already has checks and balances built into the structure of government that is being under mined by these agencies.