I guess if we’re at war we have to expect a rise in an emphasis on secrecy, which, among other things, means an increase in the number of classified documents. But, we seem to be going overboard in creating classified documents. Since 2001, the number of classified documents (according to an obscure federal agency called Information Security Oversight Office) has almost doubled. Guess how many documents were classified last year? 15,600,000, the classification of which cost us over $400 each for a total of $7.2 billion in one year.
Blaming this phenomenal rise on 9/11 doesn’t wash with Tom Kean, chair of the 9/11 commission. As the commission found, the problem re 9/11 was lack of sharing of information, not leaks of sensitive information. A quote from Kean: “The best ally we have in protecting ourselves against terrorism is an informed public.”
With any bureaucracy you do get weird things happening. Some examples:
the CIA is in court to prevent their budgets of the 1950s and 1960s being revealed. Wasn’t it a different world in the 1950s? Wasn’t
The Defense Intelligence Agency deleted a comment that Pinochet was interested in fencing, boxing and horseback riding and that he was a conservative. Vital information that!
The Justice Department blacked out a few lines from a published Supreme Court decision. Duh!
Even the head of the Information Security Oversight Office complains about some of these inanities, “I’ve seen information that was classified that I’ve seen published in third grade textbooks.”
Somehow I don’t feel any safer knowing that we’re paying good money so someone can play spies.
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