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US Declassifications Delayed. Infrastructure Classification to follow?
kiwimate writes "This article discusses an executive order issued yesterday which delays the release of millions of historical documents until the end of 2006. Apparently, the relevant agencies need more time to study the affected papers, even though it only affects papers more than 25 years old. Evidently a quarter of a century is not a sufficiently lengthy review period. For a slightly different version of the same story, see here." For further news on the classification of "critical infrastructure" see Declan's story.
In related news.. Phybersyko writes "Declan McCallagh at cnet.com(website) reports (story)that "President George W. Bush has signed an executive order that explicitly gives the government the power to classify information about critical infrastructures such as the Internet."
Do we chalk this up to the cost of "freedom" or are we repeating the same mistakes the Catholics made in the Middle Ages (keep em' ignorant and our rule is secured)...."
At least in intelligence, the point of classification is to protect the source. For example, if the enemy knows that by using system X, we are able to gain insight into their operations, they will cease to use system X.
... OOPS!
While some things (like out military tactics and battle plans) are not really relevant 25 years after the fact, these documents should still be examined to make sure that they will not divulge a still valid source of valuable intelligence information.
It has happened in the past. Either through publication in the media or release of documents under FOIA, where later we went
I'm not surprised in the least by Bush's action, and given that this may violate the Freedom of Information Act you can be pretty damn sure there's something he's trying to hide.
Some things that Bush could be trying to keep under wraps:
- US support of Osama bin Laden
- US support of Saddam Hussein
- Iran/Contra scandal
- The taking of hostages in 1980, with the hostages mysteriously released the moment Reagan took office replacing Jimmy Carter (who was president in 1978)
- US support of Chile and Pinochet
- generally, stuff Bush's daddy did in the early 80's
Of course, we don't really know how long the list is until we see the documents. A lot of historians have been hankering after documents about the early Reagan presidency, and those were supposed to be released around now.
This administration has been really secretive with documents that should be released to the public. Remember couple of years ago Bush jr passed some executive orders preventing some of the papers of his fathers administration from being released.
Even looking at the way the present administration holds press briefings it is obvious that they want to completely limit and control information flow.
And yes 25 years is long enough. Remember if you go 25 years back you get smack in the middle of Reagan's time. Reagan is in the process of being turned into a living saint by the republicans, and it would be really inconvenient to provide some details about all the nasty things that happened during his presidency. Not to mention that some of these nasty things happened in Iraq, and would be really embarassing given the current reasoning for the war effort.
On top of everything, most of the powerful people of the bush administartion (such as Cheney, Powel and Rumsfield for example) were important people in the reagan administration. This decision shows that they are not quite eager to be judged for their actions back then. That is completely understandable. Powel, for example was implicated in transfering shitloads of anti air missiles to a certain "axis of evil" country.
So it is not surprising at all. But if we are to function as a democracy, these papers should be revealed. Politicians should be accountable for their actions, they should not be able to delay the release of truth indefinately. And who knows the papers may make the Reagan administration look good. Maybe there was a good reason for iran contra, and all the killing in south america. Dont know what that would be but it is possible, I suppose.
Well, maybe they want to make sure that no controversial infomation reaches the public.
An Example: Operation Northwoods
It only makes sense that all the information intended for declassification does not contain a hint of what might be vital information to US secruity. For instance stuff that happened during the Cold War - tapping cables in the ocean, encounters with Russian subs and so on. Some information has been declassified about the Cuban missile crisis largely found here: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/ . I sure this is not all the information on the CMC and some might still be "sensitive". It took the British at leat 25 years before they admitted they had cracked the Enigma machines presumably because the Germany military and embassies were using them after WW2 thinking they were impervious. The British wouldn't want the Germans to know what confidential information they new of thier military operations and political commniques. I just hope a lot of this information is declassified in the next 20 or 30 years. There are some great stories to be told and it would definately be of great historical importance.
"Of the people, for the people, by the people" is great and all... but some of those people just might be terrorists! Therefore, it must be a reasonable idea to remove the people's abilty to review the actions of their government, in this best of all possible worlds.
Ryan Fenton