Hiding Facts to Thwart Democracy
of U.S. government information is a grave threat to the Republic,
giving politicians and bureaucrats the power to hide facts that
aren’t really sensitive but are vital to a meaningful public debate,
such as the IG report on President Bush’s surveillance program, says
ex-NSA analyst Kirk Wiebe.
By Kirk Wiebe
A
few weeks ago, as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request by
the New York Times, we were able to view a redacted version of the
so-called “Five IG’s” report, formally entitled “Report on the
President’s Surveillance Program” or PSP, written by the Inspectors
General of the Defense Department, the National Security Agency, the
Justice Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Office of
the Director of National Intelligence.
What was most interesting
about the portions of the report that were released was how badly
over-classified much of the report originally was. The first paragraph
of the introduction to Volume 1, dated July 10, 2009, was rather
innocuous until you notice the “scratch out” of the original
classification, (TS//SI//OC//NF).
President George W. Bush announcing the launching of the Iraq invasion on March 19, 2003. (White House photo
