Thoughts on Government Secrecy (Updated)

A few thoughts prompted by Steven Aftergood's lecture: The issues of secrecy and classification of information by the government are complex and cannot be simply categorized in black and white. Government secrecy is often a necessary evil. For although it minimizes government transparency and the oversight and debate which are necessary in mantaining a free and democratic society, it can also be crucial to security of sensitive issues (such as weapons technology or military planning.) The trick is to balance the need for legitimate secrets with the goal of eliminating illegitimate secrecy (much of which is politically motivated or bureaucratically institutionalized.) Since it is difficult to enforce legislation on this issue by its very nature, the best guarantee for ensuring an open government is through an executive branch which has a strong commitment to openness. That is true regarding the government. In terms of the public, it can also be argued that there is a need for better legal guidelines as to what secrets should and must be kept secrets and which should be part of free speech rights guaranteed by the first amendment. Although logic dictates that publicizing information that would harm American citizens should be regulated, there exist few specific guidelines in this area. Again, this is an issue of balancing the demands of a free press with the need for sensible restrictions.