By Cliff Montgomery – Dec. 10th, 2010
“Executive secrecy is one of the monarchial customs…and [is] certainly fatal to republican government… How can national self-government exist without a knowledge of national affairs? Or how can legislatures be wise or independent, who legislate in the dark upon the recommendation of one man?”
– John Taylor of Caroline, Jeffersonian democrat and U.S. Senator, in 1814
The current hysteria of government officials at Wikileaks’ many releases does not reflect a serious concern for propriety, or morality, or freedom or law. It instead is a demand from spoiled children to keep an absolute power they clearly cannot handle, and certainly don’t deserve.
Their position that the world can only be secure if the people are kept ignorant and servile, is so insulting it doesn’t deserve a serious retort.
A much more coherent concept of freedom and security–which empowers citizens rather than denying their Natural Rights–was stated in 2008 by a leading foreign relations expert, before a U.S. Congressional panel.
Dr. Stephen Flynn, at the time Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, then stated before a House land Security subcommittee that American lives are put at risk by the U.S. government’s love of undue secrecy.
American citizens instead need representatives who actively inform them about threats here and abroad, he added.
In January 2010, Dr. Flynn became the sixth President of the Center for National Policy (CNP), “an independent think tank located in Washington, DC focused on national infrastructure, national and homeland security and resilience issues.”
“Following the election of President Barack Obama, [Dr. Flynn] served as the lead policy advisor on homeland security for the presidential transition team,” states CNP on its website.
“He [also] currently serves as a member of the bipartisan National Security Preparedness Group, co-chaired by former 9/11 commissioners Governor Tom Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton,” adds CNP.
Dr. Flynn’s basic assessment from 2008 deserves special attention now, in this atmosphere of hysteria on the supposed sacredness of government secrecy.
“[The U.S. government often has] neglected the nation’s greatest asset: the legacy of American grit, volunteerism, and ingenuity in the face of adversity,” Dr. Flynn stated in a written testimony before a 2008 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment.
“Unlike during World War II when everyday people, industry leaders, and local and state officials were mobilized in a national effort, since 9/11, national security and homeland security officials have too often [either] treated citizens as potential security risks to be held at arm’s length or like helpless children in need of protection,” he added.
“Officials reflexively assert that candor would only ‘provide ideas to the terrorist and spook the public.’ Not only is this instinct short-sighted and counter-productive, I would argue it ignores what should have been [some] of the central lessons from the 9/11 attacks.”
“First, the targets of choice for current and future terrorists will be civilians and infrastructure.
“Second, safeguarding those targets can only be accomplished with an informed, inspired and mobilized public.
“The first preventers and the first responders are far more likely to be civilians and local officials, not soldiers or federal law enforcement officers.”
“President Bush concluded from [the September, 11th, 2001] attacks that [hunting down the terrorist enemy]… is a job that must be left to more fully empowered and resourced national security professionals.”
“[Yet the only hijacked aircraft kept from achieving its bloody mission that day was stopped] by one thing alone–an alert and heroic citizenry,” stated Dr. Flynn.
“United 93 passengers foiled al Qaeda without any help from the U.S. government. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) could not intercept the flight. Officials did not even know that the plane had been hijacked. There were no federal air marshals aboard.”
“The terrorists…did not prevent passengers from making urgent calls to family and friends. These passengers found out something that their counterparts on the three earlier flights discovered only after it was too late to act–that the terrorists were on a suicide mission, intent on using the commandeered jet airline as a deadly missile,” stated Dr. Flynn.
“Armed with that information, the everyday Americans aboard United 93 did something very important: They charged the cockpit and prevented the plane from reaching its intended target.”
“[Yet] overwhelmingly, the national defense and federal law enforcement community have chosen secrecy over openness when it comes to providing the general public with details about…the actions required to mitigate and respond to that risk,” he added.
It’s hard to immediately tell if Dr. Flynn would still agree with these sentiments–closeness to power has a way of warping previous certainties. But it’s instructive to note that even ‘the experts’ freely acknowledge freedom and security are only possible if the public knows what’s being done in its name.
Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, couldn’t agree more.
