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...
appears default discourage judge media secrecy seems wants
Secrecy seems to be the default here. It appears the judge wants to discourage media coverage.
action activity basically covert national taking
This whole activity was effectively concealed. It's baffling. It's basically a covert action taking place at the National Archives.
hillary nsa suggesting
No one is suggesting the NSA is monitoring Hillary Clinton.
act cannot categories classified executive information intelligence methods national protected security sources
Some categories of classified information are protected by statute and not only by executive order. Intelligence sources and methods are protected by the National Security Act and cannot be declassified even by the say-so of the president.
ask citizens growth harder hold officials ordinary questions secrecy
Secrecy has become a growth industry. It makes it harder for ordinary citizens ... to ask questions ... and to hold officials accountable.
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.
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.
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.
access control families government guys information interest larger public reaching shut whether
We have an interest on public access to government information and in government control of such access. Don't shut down these guys whether they are communicating with their families or they are reaching out to the larger public.
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.
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.