Writing in Slate, Jack Shafer reflects on a recent speech by
William Leonard of the Information Security Oversight Office in
which he warned of excessive and erroneous classification
Classification abuse is a profound structural challenge to the
ideals of American government, yet it has largely escaped serious
attention from policymakers and from the mainstream media.
But those, like Leonard, who are most familiar with classification
policy are also most troubled by its abuse.
Why didn't the Leonard speech garner more attention?
"Maybe he should have leaked it to the press instead of posting it
on the web," Shafer proposed.
Quote:Too Many Secrets, Says Secrecy Czar
J. William Leonard frets about the breakdown of the classification system.
By Jack Shafer
Posted Wednesday, June 23, 2004
In a little-noticed mid-June speech, secrecy czar J. William Leonard fretted over signs of a breakdown of the classification system for national security.
Leonard heads the Information Security Oversight Office, the National Archives branch that develops classification and declassification policies at the behest of the president. In his talk, given at a classification training seminar, Leonard complains that the system has lost touch with the "basics": Some agencies don't know how much information they classify; they don't know whether they're classifying more than they once did or less; they don't know whether they're classifying too much or too little; and they don't know whether they're classifying material for too long a period or too short.
This quality-control breakdown has resulted in agencies classifying too much information and, in some cases, classifying information that by law shouldn't be stamped "secret" in the first place. Implying that the government classified the reports of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib to cover up the scandal, Leonard says:
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