Agent Coulson's decision to lead S.H.I.E.L.D. into fully aligning with Congress had not come without warning. At the very least, this intelligence had not raised the blood pressure of the City of Immortals Intelligence Department's upper ranks. Even though many of them had once been Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., they completely understood Agent Coulson's actions—ever since the Hydra Rebellion, Agent Coulson had wanted to restore S.H.I.E.L.D.'s former glory and deal directly with the World Security Council. But reality stood before them. S.H.I.E.L.D. had now lost most of its facilities, personnel, political resources, and, most importantly, trust.
Those opposed to Hydra believed that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been Hydra's puppet in the past and still was now. Those who were Hydra themselves knew a little more of the inside story; they believed S.H.I.E.L.D. had once been one of Nick Fury's hands, and still was. Those watching coldly from the sidelines were not surprised by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s current predicament in the slightest. From the moment most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s funding had been approved by US Congress, the organization that was nominally under the United Nations had effectively become Congress's dog. Only someone like Nick Fury had been capable of taking congressional funding and maneuvering among the military and sixteen American intelligence agencies to do what he wanted.
Agent Coulson simply could not do that, not even with the little black Vibranium box Nick Fury had left him.
That box contained all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s old files. The reason Nick Fury had always been able to obtain whatever budget he wanted was because he held compromising material on numerous House of Representatives members, senators, Supreme Court officials, and their children. Drug abuse, murder, incest, pedophilia, bribery, collusion with foreign powers, abuse of authority, Human Trafficking, organ trafficking... the list went on and on. Nick Fury only had to choose