Today's Article
Knowledge is
power. Thus the
opposite also is
true--ignorance is
slavery.
power. Thus the
opposite also is
true--ignorance is
slavery.
The American Spark
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Secrecy Is Real Threat To Democracy, Troops, Citizens
By Cliff Montgomery - July 26th, 2010
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says the documents on Afghanistan released today by WikiLeaks
"pose a very real threat" to American forces--even as he admits that the data in those sources already are well
known.
In fact, it appears as if WikiLeaks tried to keep any "real threats" from being an issue in its release.
"The reports do not generally cover top-secret operations or European and other ISAF [International Security
Assistance Force] operations," states WikiLeaks' introduction to its Afghan War Diary.
So now we're hearing tough-sounding talk about a supposed "threat" to American forces, national security,
and so on.
We're hearing this only for one reason: The WikiLeaks documents reveal this Afghan war for the mess it really
is.
Knowledge is power. Thus the opposite also is true--ignorance is slavery.
Our view? Any politician who claims that citizens are only secure when they are kept ignorant of national
actions or policy is simply trying to maximize his power and manipulate those he pretends to represent.
This simple truth perhaps was best expressed in a fascinating 2007 study, jointly produced by
OpenTheGovernment.org and People For The American Way Foundation, entitled Government Secrecy:
Decisions Without Democracy.
Its introduction included a re-printed preface to the 1987 edition, written by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., a Pulitzer
Prize-winning historian and former aide to President Kennedy.
Though writing about the Reagan Presidency, Schlesinger's words are even more valid when applied to the
current empty shouting over the WikiLeaks release:
"Secrecy is the bane of democracy because it is the enemy of accountability. The framers of the American
Constitution designed a system of government intended to bring power and accountability into balance.
"The secrecy system, as it has been nurtured by the Executive Branch over the last [several] years...is the
indispensable ally and instrument of the Imperial Presidency.
"Now no one can question the right of the state to keep certain things secret. [For instance,] in certain
domestic areas: personal data given the government on the presumption it would be kept confidential--tax
returns, personnel investigations and the like; and official decisions that, if prematurely disclosed, would lead to
speculation in land or commodities, preemptive buying, higher governmental costs and private enrichment.
"But the contemporary state has extended the secrecy system far beyond its legitimate bounds. In doing so,
the target is far less to prevent the disclosure of information to enemy governments than to prevent the
disclosure of information to the American Congress, press and people.
"For governments have discovered that secrecy is a source of power and an efficient way of covering up the
embarrassments, blunders, follies and crimes of the ruling regime.
"When governments claim that a broad secrecy mandate is essential to protect national security, they mostly
mean that it is essential to protect the political interests of the administration. The harm to national security
through breaches of secrecy is always exaggerated.
"The secrecy system has been breached since the beginning of the republic--from the day in 1795 when
Senator Mason of Virginia enraged President Washington by giving the secret text of Jay’s Treaty to the
Philadelphia Aurora, or the day in 1844 when Senator Tappan of Ohio enraged President Tyler by giving the
secret text of the treaty annexing Texas to the New York Evening Post.
"[But] no one has ever demonstrated that such leaks, or the publication of the Pentagon Papers either,
harmed national security. No one can doubt that these disclosures [in fact] benefited the democratic process.
"The republic has survived great crises--the War of 1812, the Civil War, the First and Second World War--
without erecting the [current] suffocating structure of secrecy...
"The consequences for American democracy of the cult of secrecy may be dire. For the secrecy system not
only safeguards the executive branch from accountability for its incompetence and its venality. Worse, it
emboldens the state to undertake rash and mindless adventures, as the Iran-Contra scandal sadly reminds us.
[...]
"Perhaps President Reagan will one day regret that the press had not exposed his secret intentions toward
Iran in time to block his ill-considered policy, as President Kennedy regretted that the New York Times had not
played up its story on the exile invasion of Cuba. 'If you had printed more about the operation,' he told a Times
editor, 'you would have saved us from a colossal mistake.'
"Because the secrecy system is controlled by those on whom it bestows prestige and protection, it has long
since overridden its legitimate objectives. The religion of secrecy has become an all-purpose means by which
the American Presidency seeks to dissemble its purposes, bury its mistakes, manipulate its citizens and
maximize its power.
“ 'Executive secrecy,' John Taylor of Caroline, the philosopher of Jeffersonian democracy, wrote in 1814, 'is one
of the monarchial customs...and [is] certainly fatal to republican government...How can national self-
government exist without a knowledge of national affairs? Or how can legislatures be wise or independent,
who legislate in the dark upon the recommendation of one man?' ”
Like what you're reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of The American Spark
e-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be
delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
By Cliff Montgomery - July 26th, 2010
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says the documents on Afghanistan released today by WikiLeaks
"pose a very real threat" to American forces--even as he admits that the data in those sources already are well
known.
In fact, it appears as if WikiLeaks tried to keep any "real threats" from being an issue in its release.
"The reports do not generally cover top-secret operations or European and other ISAF [International Security
Assistance Force] operations," states WikiLeaks' introduction to its Afghan War Diary.
So now we're hearing tough-sounding talk about a supposed "threat" to American forces, national security,
and so on.
We're hearing this only for one reason: The WikiLeaks documents reveal this Afghan war for the mess it really
is.
Knowledge is power. Thus the opposite also is true--ignorance is slavery.
Our view? Any politician who claims that citizens are only secure when they are kept ignorant of national
actions or policy is simply trying to maximize his power and manipulate those he pretends to represent.
This simple truth perhaps was best expressed in a fascinating 2007 study, jointly produced by
OpenTheGovernment.org and People For The American Way Foundation, entitled Government Secrecy:
Decisions Without Democracy.
Its introduction included a re-printed preface to the 1987 edition, written by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., a Pulitzer
Prize-winning historian and former aide to President Kennedy.
Though writing about the Reagan Presidency, Schlesinger's words are even more valid when applied to the
current empty shouting over the WikiLeaks release:
"Secrecy is the bane of democracy because it is the enemy of accountability. The framers of the American
Constitution designed a system of government intended to bring power and accountability into balance.
"The secrecy system, as it has been nurtured by the Executive Branch over the last [several] years...is the
indispensable ally and instrument of the Imperial Presidency.
"Now no one can question the right of the state to keep certain things secret. [For instance,] in certain
domestic areas: personal data given the government on the presumption it would be kept confidential--tax
returns, personnel investigations and the like; and official decisions that, if prematurely disclosed, would lead to
speculation in land or commodities, preemptive buying, higher governmental costs and private enrichment.
"But the contemporary state has extended the secrecy system far beyond its legitimate bounds. In doing so,
the target is far less to prevent the disclosure of information to enemy governments than to prevent the
disclosure of information to the American Congress, press and people.
"For governments have discovered that secrecy is a source of power and an efficient way of covering up the
embarrassments, blunders, follies and crimes of the ruling regime.
"When governments claim that a broad secrecy mandate is essential to protect national security, they mostly
mean that it is essential to protect the political interests of the administration. The harm to national security
through breaches of secrecy is always exaggerated.
"The secrecy system has been breached since the beginning of the republic--from the day in 1795 when
Senator Mason of Virginia enraged President Washington by giving the secret text of Jay’s Treaty to the
Philadelphia Aurora, or the day in 1844 when Senator Tappan of Ohio enraged President Tyler by giving the
secret text of the treaty annexing Texas to the New York Evening Post.
"[But] no one has ever demonstrated that such leaks, or the publication of the Pentagon Papers either,
harmed national security. No one can doubt that these disclosures [in fact] benefited the democratic process.
"The republic has survived great crises--the War of 1812, the Civil War, the First and Second World War--
without erecting the [current] suffocating structure of secrecy...
"The consequences for American democracy of the cult of secrecy may be dire. For the secrecy system not
only safeguards the executive branch from accountability for its incompetence and its venality. Worse, it
emboldens the state to undertake rash and mindless adventures, as the Iran-Contra scandal sadly reminds us.
[...]
"Perhaps President Reagan will one day regret that the press had not exposed his secret intentions toward
Iran in time to block his ill-considered policy, as President Kennedy regretted that the New York Times had not
played up its story on the exile invasion of Cuba. 'If you had printed more about the operation,' he told a Times
editor, 'you would have saved us from a colossal mistake.'
"Because the secrecy system is controlled by those on whom it bestows prestige and protection, it has long
since overridden its legitimate objectives. The religion of secrecy has become an all-purpose means by which
the American Presidency seeks to dissemble its purposes, bury its mistakes, manipulate its citizens and
maximize its power.
“ 'Executive secrecy,' John Taylor of Caroline, the philosopher of Jeffersonian democracy, wrote in 1814, 'is one
of the monarchial customs...and [is] certainly fatal to republican government...How can national self-
government exist without a knowledge of national affairs? Or how can legislatures be wise or independent,
who legislate in the dark upon the recommendation of one man?' ”
Like what you're reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of The American Spark
e-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be
delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
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