See 
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/28/opinion/28mon2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
(registration required)
for an editorial today by the New York Times, "A Fixation with Secrecy."

The editorial starts out describing the recent reclassification of missile 
information displayed in 1971 by Defense Secretary Laird at a Congressional 
hearing.  The NYT asks, "What’s next? Classifying Civil War ironclads and 
cannons?"  Then it notes, "The missile blackout is the latest symptom of a deepening 
government illness."

The NYT editors mention whistleblowers, journalists, etc.  Then they turn to 
NARA and provide their conclusion:

"Last spring the director of the National Archives objected to a 
reclassifying initiative undertaken by intelligence officials that caused 55,000 
decades-old pages to vanish from the public record. The process itself was labeled 
anofficial secret. Public recourse has become more difficult: enforcement of the 
Freedom of Information Act has become slower and more burdensome.The one thing 
the administration has made no secret is its antipathy to government 
transparency. The secrecy fixation is a threat to democracy and an insult to honest 
history."

Maarja














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