Secrecy, overclassification, and the the CIA’s hidden history
1–10 of 46 posts
Re: Secrecy, overclassification, and the the CIA’s hidden history
#2To better understand this organization and its inner workings i highly recommend the book "Overthrow" by Stephen Kinzer.
Re: Secrecy, overclassification, and the the CIA’s hidden history
#3To better understand this organization and its inner workings i highly recommend the book "Overthrow" by Stephen Kinzer.
I also recommend the book "The Company", by Bob Littell. Overall it's fiction, but has the feel of realism.
Re: Secrecy, overclassification, and the the CIA’s hidden history
#4I always found it annoying how things get "declassified" only after anyone that could have provided context and good points of objection, in order to develop a better system of rules, is dead.
How can you expect to perfect a system by making the negative feedback loop ineffective.
Re: Secrecy, overclassification, and the the CIA’s hidden history
#5Great article. It brings back to mind a question I had recently: what gives the federal government, specifically the executive branch, the power to classify information at all?
I know there are laws and executive orders that say they can do that, but I’m wondering what the ultimate authority derives from in the Constitution. If it’s not a simple explanation, are there any scholarly legal articles I can look at?
Re: Secrecy, overclassification, and the the CIA’s hidden history
#6I always found it annoying how things get "declassified" only after anyone that could have provided context and good points of objection, in order to develop a better system of rules, is dead. How can you expect to perfect a system by making the negative feedback loop ineffective.
It's a tricky balance between that and protecting the people involved from harm, as well as protecting methods that may still be of use. I think the US government is too conservative about when to release information, but in many cases even less conservative standards will result in information being withheld until most or all of the principals are dead.
Re: Secrecy, overclassification, and the the CIA’s hidden history
#7Great article. It brings back to mind a question I had recently: what gives the federal government, specifically the executive branch, the power to classify information at all? I know there are laws and executive orders that say they can do that, but I’m wondering what the ultimate authority derives from in the Constitution. If it’s not a simple explanation, are there any scholarly legal articles I can look at?
Re: Secrecy, overclassification, and the the CIA’s hidden history
#8To better understand this organization and its inner workings i highly recommend the book "Overthrow" by Stephen Kinzer.
I also recommend the book "The Company", by Bob Littell. Overall it's fiction, but has the feel of realism.
I'd also recommend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Veins_of_Latin_America
Re: Secrecy, overclassification, and the the CIA’s hidden history
#9To better understand this organization and its inner workings i highly recommend the book "Overthrow" by Stephen Kinzer.
How about "Legacy of Ashes"?
https://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Ashes-History-Tim-Weiner/dp/03...
Re: Secrecy, overclassification, and the the CIA’s hidden history
#10I always found it annoying how things get "declassified" only after anyone that could have provided context and good points of objection, in order to develop a better system of rules, is dead. How can you expect to perfect a system by making the negative feedback loop ineffective.
It's a tricky balance between that and protecting the people involved from harm, as well as protecting methods that may still be of use. I think the US government is too conservative about when to release information, but in many cases even less conservative standards will result in information being withheld until most or all of the principals are dead.
I agree that's the argument used, but you have to weigh that against the possibility that it also incentivises malicious actor(s) to subversive behavior because they will not be held accountable for their actions.
In the grand scheme of things it comes to a subjective decision point, and I would tend to argue that an increase in accountability toward the customers (us), wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.