“Mutual(ly) assured blackmail” (MAB) is a term similar to “mutual(ly) assured destruction” (MAD). Everyone in the government spies on everyone else and learns secrets, so everyone can be blackmailed. No one can be prosecuted because MAB means that it is too dangerous for anyone to do so. MAB acts as an insurance policy to survive.
   
“MAB: Mutually Assured Blackmail” was posted on the newsgroup alt.alien.visitors on August 2, 1994. However, MAB was used sparingly until the article “MAB Is The New MAD” by Brian Wilson, published on LewRockwell.com on September 9, 2017.
   
         
Wikipedia: Mutual assured destruction
Mutual assured destruction or mutually assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender (see pre-emptive nuclear strike and second strike). It is based on the theory of deterrence, which holds that the threat of using strong weapons against the enemy prevents the enemy’s use of those same weapons. The strategy is a form of Nash equilibrium in which, once armed, neither side has any incentive to initiate a conflict or to disarm.
 
Google Groups: alt.alien.visitors
faked moon landings
DaveHatunen
8/2/94
(...)
Maybe we know something about their programs they don’t want made public. MAB: Mutually Assured Blackmail.
     
Google Groups: misc.survivalism
spike lee
Tim May
5/29/99
(...)
MAB—Mutually Assured Blackmail, the key to American politics in this corrupt and law-overloaded age.
 
Twitter
Alastair Morgan‏
@AlastairMorgan
Replying to @borngeek
@borngeek I think you’re right. You could call it MAB Mutually Assured Blackmail.
5:42 PM - 16 Nov 2014
 
Twitter
Eldon Johansen‏
@johansense
CIA, Democrats, Administration: MAB.  Mutually Assured Blackmail.
9:52 AM - 14 Dec 2016
 
LewRockwell.com
MAB Is The New MAD
By Brian Wilson
September 9, 2017
20th century MAD has been replaced with 21st Century MAB – Mutually Assured Blackmail.  As Judge Napolitano noted: “… we are the most spied-upon people in world history and that the president himself has been a victim.” Considering the players and the stakes, is it not logical to conclude the Vice President,  Attorney General, Cabinet, SCOTUS and the entire Congressional contingent have all been similarly surveilled by the so-called Intelligence Community to control with blackmail and extortion all aspects of what was formerly known as Constitutionally limited representative governance? How better to manipulate the Deep State’s policies and programs that advance their vision and purpose for America?
 
Doesn’t MAB quite simply explain the lack of prosecution of the Protected Class of Government “Celebrities”?  Wouldn’t MAB point to the remarkable failure of Congress to repeal Obamacare? Stall tax reform? Or the monumentally stupid “agreement” to continue sacrificing American blood and treasure in a sandbox that doesn’t threaten National Security? How easy would it be to finesse at least a stalemate between both Parties? Different Departments? Warring Agencies? Personality Wars?
(...)
MAB – Mutually Assured Blackmail – makes everything crystal clear. And quite ugly.