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Marcus Aurelius: Conflicted About Ethics, Secrecy, & the Public Interest

COMMENTS: 1.  This is one of more internally contradictory pieces I can remember reading; 2.  Mark Bowden certainly knows a thing or three about perpetuating compromise of classified information since he’s done bunch of it; 3.  Bowden harkens back to old saying, “.. there are good secrets, there are bad secrets, and there are non-secrets …

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Owl: John Stockwell on Role of Secrecy — Cover for Corruption

“John Stockwell is the highest-ranking CIA official ever to leave the agency and go public. He ran a CIA intelligence-gathering post in Vietnam, was the task-force commander of the CIA’s secret war in Angola in 1975 and 1976, and was awarded the Medal of Merit before he resigned. Stockwell’s book In Search of Enemies, published …

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Daniel Ellsberg: On Secrecy & Whistleblowing with Comment by Robert Steele

Secrecy and National Security Whistleblowing Daniel Ellsberg on January 8, 2013 [Originally published in Social Research] I) Reflections on Secret-keeping and Identity In the “national security” area of the government–the White House, the departments of state and defense, the armed services and the “intelligence community,” along with their contractors–there is less whistleblowing than in other …

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Review: Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry

Marc Ambinder and D. B. Grady 3.0 out of 5 stars Mish-Mash — Superficial, Avoids Ethics, Corruption, and Cost Issues, April 7, 2013 This is a seriously disappointing book. As another reviewer has noted, and I concur, it is a hodge podge. Worse, it avoids the serious issues of ethics, deep corruption, and the opportunity …

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Secrecy News: DoD Inspector General Has Unrestricted Access to Classified Information — Excellent Baby Step

DOD INSPECTOR GENERAL HAS UNRESTRICTED ACCESS TO CLASSIFIED INFO A Department of Defense instruction issued on Friday reinforces the policy that the DoD Office of Inspector General (OIG) is to have full access to all records, including classified records, that it needs to perform its function, and that no DoD official other than the Secretary …

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Secrecy News: Army Manual on Inform & Influence — Still Retarded, But Small Signs of Progress

ARMY MANUAL HIGHLIGHTS ROLE OF “INFORM AND INFLUENCE ACTIVITIES” The use of information-related tools to support military operations and to help shape their outcome is discussed in a newly updated Army manual on what are now called “Inform and Influence Activities.” Inform and influence activities (or IIA) refers to “the integration of designated information-related capabilities …

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Daniel Ellsberg: Secrecy vs. Whistleblowing in a Democracy

Secreacy and National Security Whistleblowing Daniel Ellsberg Huffington Post repritned from Social Research, 13 January 2013 I) Reflections on Secret-keeping and Identity In the “national security” area of the government — the White House, the departments of state and defense, the armed services and the “intelligence community,” along with their contractors — there is less …

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