Steven Aftergood
Steven Aftergood
Steven Aftergoodis a specialist in physics and a political activist. He is a critic of U.S. government secrecy, generally favoring more openness. He directs the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy and is the author of the Federation blog/newsletter Secrecy News...
disgrace history recent
A lot of what we think we know of our recent history may be mistaken, ... It is a disgrace that it should be so in a democracy, but it is.
central focus implicit intelligence
an implicit repudiation of the CIA, which was established to be the central focus and the integrator of the nation's intelligence production.
ability debate democracy frames future less losing people policy problem rationally secrecy seem society
As a society we seem to be losing our ability to rationally debate complicated policy decisions. Secrecy aggravates the problem by excluding people from the debate, or by narrowing their frames of reference. Nothing less than the future of American democracy is at stake.
abolish create difficult either entirely logical practical proven reform simply
As a practical matter, it has proven difficult to either reform or abolish the CIA, ... The logical alternative may be to simply create an entirely new agency.
embraced secrecy
This administration has embraced secrecy as a right.
aggressive authority goes oversight point principle relatively trivial
This illustrates the principle that unchecked authority goes astray. In this case, it's a relatively trivial infraction. But to me the point is that we need more aggressive and penetrating oversight than we have.
bureau cases employees problems tripped
I think there will be problems and cases where employees are tripped up by the tests, ... But the bureau as a whole will adapt.
argument enormous forgive might necessity speaking strictly tolerance understanding violations
I think there is enormous understanding and tolerance for an argument from necessity, and there's willingness to retroactively forgive what might strictly speaking be violations of the law.
clearly driven embrace encouraged individual overall
I think it's driven by the individual agencies, which have bureaucratic sensitivities to protect. But it was clearly encouraged by the administration's overall embrace of secrecy.
four information legal sued
It is ironic, ... We sued the C.I.A. four times for this kind of information and lost. You can't get it through legal channels.
attempt bully cannot cause court family fbi intimidate persuade private probable records stolen university
If the FBI can persuade a court that there is probable cause that there are stolen records in that collection, then they should go to court. They cannot bully or attempt to intimidate the family or the university into surrendering private records.
arguably attempt context information mitigate presume provide public widely wrong
I presume it's an attempt to provide some context for the information that was disclosed. If such information was already in public circulation or widely disseminated, that could arguably mitigate anything the defendants did wrong by communicating it.
answers asking checks circuit executive government immune needless needs officials power presenting preserved press questions reporting short system
If you don't have the possibility of asking questions and presenting answers that officials may find unwelcome, then you short circuit the deliberative process, end up magnifying the power of the executive and undermining the system of checks and balances. Needless to say the press is not immune from criticism. But the possibility of independent reporting on government needs to be preserved or all of us are potentially in jeopardy.
anybody benefit interests serve status welcomed
I don't think anybody welcomed that proposal. It wouldn't serve the interests of those who benefit from the status quo.