A Wonderful Resource for Info. on Gov’t. Secrecy
posted by Heidi Kitrosser
Government secrecy in its myriad forms — information classification, punishment of information leaks, executive privilege, etc. — is an intrinsically important topic in any society based on the concept of self-government. Such societies, including ours, must reconcile secrecy’s anti-democratic nature with the practical impossibility of complete transparency. And the topic of government secrecy may well be as important, if not more important, now than at any time in our nation’s history. Indeed, it has been said by many across the political spectrum that the current presidential administration is among the most secretive in American history. Among other things, intensive secrecy has been blamed for helping to create an insular group-think culture that bred so many intelligence, strategic and policy mistakes before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
That said, I wanted to share what I have found to be an absolutely invaluable resource for educating one’s self about the ins and outs of government secrecy, from classification policy to more general intelligence community information to current events relating to secrecy and intelligence policy. I speak of the wonderful Project on Government Secrecy of the Federation for American Scientists. I highly recommend exploring the very informative website of the Project on Government Secrecy. I also recommend visiting the project’s secrecy news blog.
November 2, 2006 at 12:40 am
Posted in: Current Events
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Responses (1)
AntonK - November 2, 2006 at 8:53 am
This article: “Wall Nuts: The wall between intelligence and law enforcement is killing us,” by Stewary Baker is also of enduring value to the sujbect of government secrecy.
http://www.slate.com/id/2093344/
[Stewart Baker heads the technology law practice at Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. From 1992 to 1994, he was general counsel of the National Security Agency.]
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