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The declassification engine : what history reveals about America's top secrets / Matthew Connelly.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Pantheon Books, [2023]Copyright date: ©2023Edition: First editionDescription: xvii, 540 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781101871577
  • 1101871571
Subject(s):
Contents:
Preface: Should this book be legal? -- The radical transparency of the American republic: a re-introduction -- Pearl Harbor: the original secret -- The bomb: born secret -- Code making and code breaking: the secret of secrets -- The military-industrial complex: the dirty secret of civil-military relations -- Surveillance: other people's secrets -- Weird science: secrets that are stranger than fiction -- Following the money: trade secrets -- Spin: the flipside of secrecy -- There is no there there: the best kept secret -- Deleting the archive: the ultimate secret -- Conclusion: The end of history as we know it.
Summary: "A captivating study of US state secrecy that examines how officials use it to hoard power and prevent meaningful public oversight. The United States was founded on the promise of a transparent government, but time and again we have abandoned the ideals of our open republic. In recent history, we have permitted ourselves to engage in costly wars, opened ourselves to preventable attacks, and ceded unaccountable power to officials both elected and unelected. Secrecy may now be an integral policy to preserving the American way of life, but its true costs have gone unacknowledged for too long. Using the latest techniques in data science, historian Matthew Connelly analyzes the millions of state documents both accessible to the public and still under review to unearth not only what the government does not want us to know, but what it says about the very authority we bequeath to our leaders. By culling this research and carefully studying a series of pivotal moments in recent history from Pearl Harbor to drone strikes, Connelly sheds light on the drivers of state secrecy--especially consolidating power or hiding incompetence--and how the classification of documents has become untenable. What results is an astonishing study of power: of the greed that develops out of its possession, of the negligence that it protects, and of what we lose as citizens when it remains unchecked. A crucial examination of the self-defeating nature of secrecy and the dire state of our nation's archives, The Declassification Engine is a powerful reminder of the importance of preserving the past so that we may secure our future"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 352.379 C752 Available 33111010958862
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE * Every day, thousands of new secrets are created by the United States government. What is all this secrecy really for? And whom does it benefit?

"A brilliant, deeply unsettling look at the history and inner workings of 'the dark state'.... At a time when federal agencies are increasingly classifying or destroying documents with historical significance, this book could not be more important." --Eric Schlosser, New York Times best-selling author of Command and Control

Before World War II, transparent government was a proud tradition in the United States. In all but the most serious of circumstances, classification, covert operations, and spying were considered deeply un-American. But after the war, the power to decide what could be kept secret proved too tempting to give up. Since then, we have radically departed from that open tradition, allowing intelligence agencies, black sites, and classified laboratories to grow unchecked. Officials insist that only secrecy can keep us safe, but its true costs have gone unacknowledged for too long.

Using the latest techniques in data science, historian Matthew Connelly analyzes a vast trove of state secrets to unearth not only what the government really did not want us to know but also why they didn't want us to know it. Culling this research and carefully examining a series of pivotal moments in recent history, from Pearl Harbor to drone warfare, Connelly sheds light on the drivers of state secrecy-- especially incompetence and criminality--and how rampant overclassification makes it impossible to protect truly vital information.

What results is an astonishing study of power: of the greed it enables, of the negligence it protects, and of what we lose as citizens when our leaders cannot be held to account. A crucial examination of the self-defeating nature of secrecy and the dire state of our nation's archives, The Declassification Engine is a powerful reminder of the importance of preserving the past so that we may secure our future.

"A captivating study of US state secrecy that examines how officials use it to hoard power and prevent meaningful public oversight. The United States was founded on the promise of a transparent government, but time and again we have abandoned the ideals of our open republic. In recent history, we have permitted ourselves to engage in costly wars, opened ourselves to preventable attacks, and ceded unaccountable power to officials both elected and unelected. Secrecy may now be an integral policy to preserving the American way of life, but its true costs have gone unacknowledged for too long. Using the latest techniques in data science, historian Matthew Connelly analyzes the millions of state documents both accessible to the public and still under review to unearth not only what the government does not want us to know, but what it says about the very authority we bequeath to our leaders. By culling this research and carefully studying a series of pivotal moments in recent history from Pearl Harbor to drone strikes, Connelly sheds light on the drivers of state secrecy--especially consolidating power or hiding incompetence--and how the classification of documents has become untenable. What results is an astonishing study of power: of the greed that develops out of its possession, of the negligence that it protects, and of what we lose as citizens when it remains unchecked. A crucial examination of the self-defeating nature of secrecy and the dire state of our nation's archives, The Declassification Engine is a powerful reminder of the importance of preserving the past so that we may secure our future"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 407-502) and index.

Preface: Should this book be legal? -- The radical transparency of the American republic: a re-introduction -- Pearl Harbor: the original secret -- The bomb: born secret -- Code making and code breaking: the secret of secrets -- The military-industrial complex: the dirty secret of civil-military relations -- Surveillance: other people's secrets -- Weird science: secrets that are stranger than fiction -- Following the money: trade secrets -- Spin: the flipside of secrecy -- There is no there there: the best kept secret -- Deleting the archive: the ultimate secret -- Conclusion: The end of history as we know it.

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