Secrecy in America

According to a survey performed for the Defense Department in 1996, it was found that the majority of U.S. citizens believe that the government withholds too much information by classifying it as a secret. In this book, “Secrecy: The American Experience”, Senator Daniel P. Moynihan reinforces that view. This is a distinctive book with numerous weaknesses, some errors, and one great strength. The weakness is that the book shows controversial arguments rather than a policy …

…all-consuming.” For this reason it is surprising that he says so little about the Vietnam War. Moynihan’s argument is thoroughly borne out in the case of Lyndon Johnson’s successor, Richard Nixon, whose passion for secrecy really was all-consuming. His undoing began with the publication of the Pentagon Papers. Nixon persuaded himself that those documents were vital to national security and so set in motion the retributive machinery that ultimately led to his resignation.