How 1,000 Officials in Pentagon Keep Secrets, Warp Democracy

14 Million Documents

At the Defense Department alone, more than 1,000 officials can classify information. More than 14 million Pentagon papers are classified, but ``almost no one in government believes that anywhere near that number of secrets actually meet the critical standards to be a bona fide secret.'' Instead, as a former top overseer of Pentagon secrecy observes, as a rule ``the higher the classification, the less useful'' the information.

While Gup concedes that of course some secrecy is always necessary, he argues that too little openness makes the country more vulnerable -- for example, when rival agencies keep their knowledge from each other or the president withholds information even from congressional leaders.

A more fundamental threat is to free society itself. When government officials hide information, they gain more leeway to do whatever they want. ``A government free from fears of being contradicted by facts,'' Gup writes, ``becomes emboldened to take liberties with the truth.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=anWv7h8oLhsY&refer=muse