system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What's the so called "deep state"?
gpt
"deep state" is a term used to describe a group of government officials who wield disproportionate power over the government despite not formally being elected/in charge. 

Usually, it refers to a particular group or set of groups of government employees rather than elected officials. So, for example, there might be a country where the military has a veto power over policies chosen by the civilian government, and where the intelligence community supplies secret information to discredit policies/people they don't like.  

The implication is that not only does some group of government/military people have power within their own sphere---think scientists at an environmental agency arguing against some change in environmental policy---but that they are able to influence policy well outside of their actual government roles---military officials deciding that person X can't run for office, for example.

It can be used as a value neutral term---just describing states that had some trappings of democracy, but where the real control over policy was held by a smaller, less/non-democratic group.  Given most people's preferences for democracy, however, it mostly carries a negative connotation. 

Like most political terms, it's precise contours are up for debate.  Most people would agree that not ever bureaucracy is a "deep state" just because it might sometimes resist/alter the policies of elected officials, but the limit is in the eye of the beholder.