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Our Great 'Secretocracy'

By Sean Gonsalves, AlterNet. Posted May 6, 2008.


Government secrecy does not make us safer; it undermines the Constitution.

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Seeing as how the big time reporters and columnists like George Will can't seem to come up with questions to ask the presidential candidates that actually matter, I'm going to suggest a line of inquiry that doesn't frolic in the frivolity of flag pins and pastors.

What do the candidates think about our "secretocracy?" And, if elected, will he or she work to strengthen the virtually toothless Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) -- the legal key to an open society?

Former staff writer for the Washington Post and Time Magazine, Ted Gup, uses the term "secretocracy" to describe our post-9/11 society. You may not have heard of this because reporters generally don't report on it, except maybe during Sunshine Week. Rarely are there stories about information journalists did not get. That's not sexy.

Over the weekend, Gup, who is now a journalism professor at Case Western Reserve University, explained to me what he means by "secretocracy."

First, noting that "secrecy is as old as power itself," Gup described the paradigmatic shift toward hyper-secrecy after 9/11, which should be fairly obvious to anyone who hasn't been in a coma since the dawn of the new millennium. But journalists, whose stock and trade is information, have come to know official secrecy intimately.

Virtually everything was considered a target after 9/11 -- the entire infrastructure of the country. It brought out the opportunists who've always thought there was too much transparency."

For example, Homeland Security instructed state governments to take bridge maintenance reports off their Websites. After the Minneapolis bridge collapsed, when reporters went to find out if other bridges were safe on behalf of those who drive over them everyday, they hit a wall of "security" secrecy, despite it being more likely for a bridge to collapse than for it to struck by terrorists.

The two bridges (built in the 1930s) that are the only vehicular way on and off Cape Cod are controlled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- perhaps the most secretive federal agency outside the traditional national security apparatus, as people seeking post-Katrina information about the Army Corps' role in the New Orleans levee failures learned.

Another alarming manifestation of our "secretocracy" can be found in the federal court system. Did you know that fewer than two percent of federal court cases go to a full and open trial, as more and more cases are settled through "alternative dispute resolutions" and are sealed?

In researching his latest book Nation of Secrets: The Threat to Democracy and the American Way of Life, Gup discovered that the software system used in all federal courts is specifically designed to spit out "No Such Case Exists" when a query is made of sealed cases. It's one thing for the courts to say: you can't have access to a particular case file but to deny that a case exists when it's actually sealed is officially-sanctioned lying by an institution that is supposed to be candor and fairness incarnate.


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Sean Gonsalves is a columnist and assistant news editor with the Cape Cod Times. He can be reached at sgonsalves@capecodonline.com.

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View:
Terrorist
Posted by: HeKnew on May 7, 2008 3:14 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!"

George W. Bush


Direct Democracy

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Terrorist Posted by: Edward George
Big Brother
Posted by: kepstein7777 on May 7, 2008 3:17 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The trouble is that the masses think that the more secretive our government is, the safer we are.

Your neighbor may occasionally complain about Big Brother. But he'll quickly go on to shift the blame: "...But I guess they have to do that these days, because you can't be too careful with all the crooks and wackos out there..."

Heh, heh..."Crooks and wackos..." Try explaining that irony to your neighbor, and he'll report you to Big Brother.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

INTELLECTUAL PARALYSIS
Posted by: crazy carlos on May 7, 2008 7:23 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
THAT, IN A NUTSHELL SUMS UP THIS NATION'S PROBLEM AND "WE THE PEOPLE" APPARANTLY COULD CARE LESS. THIS COUNTRY IS ABOUT TO BE TAKEN OVER BY THE SAME PEOPLE WHO PRODUCED THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION IN 1917 RUSSIA WITH LESS THAN 10,000 PEOPLE. "THOSE WHO ARE IGNORANT OF THEIR HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT FAILURES"
Santayna.(sp?)

THE TIME IS LATE AND THE BALL IS IN THE CITIZENS COURT--CAN NO ONE PICK UP THE RACKET??
SURELY BY NOW EVEN THOSE OF THE MOST LIMITED OF INTELLECT CAN SEE WHAT HAS HAPPENED AND WHAT THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE. WE ARE A DICTATORSHIP IN EVERYTHING BUT NAME.

WHAT IS NEEDED IS ONE PERSON TO MAKE A STAND, TO SAY ENOUGH, THE FUEL IS THERE IN PLACE.--NOW IS THE NEED FOR THE SPARK!!
CRAZY CARLOS

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

No need to SHOUT! Use the HTML too for infasis.
Posted by: nightgaunt on May 7, 2008 3:09 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You are correct. Use of all caps for all of it negates its importance. It is like highlighting an entire book.

These people aren't necessarily stupid,just evil in its fullest sense. Just check out the death toll of others since 1950 to see the ocean of blood the USA has collected from people in other countries.

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Eat a banker, BBQ a CEO, parboil a politician, serve up a mutlinational
Posted by: thekidde on May 7, 2008 4:27 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
IMFer in a boullebaise. It's time for pitchforks, torches and tearing down the walls around the mansions.

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See Moynihan
Posted by: dbaldwin on May 9, 2008 12:25 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Anyone exercised by this issue should take time to read Daniel Patrick Moynahan's parting shot, "Secrecy" (1998). He makes a strong case for the Cold War having occurred in large part because of the secretiveness within the federal government. Secrecy is not merely inconsistent with democracy, it is profoundly damaging to intellignet decision making within any large institution.

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