We've collected some speeches on government secrecy and open government issues that we felt worth sharing. As we learn of others, we'll add them to our list.
These are soul-trying times for those who value democracy and open government, Hodding Carter told a National Freedom of Information Day audience at the Freedom Forum. Carter, a former newspaper editor, state department spokesman and president of the Knight Foundation, said government is “systematically shutting down the taps, drying up the flow of information to the American people, cutting back on the intent and spirit of the Freedom of Information Act — and the Bill of Rights.” And he faulted those in journalism “too sophisticated” to join in efforts to halt erosion. (3/27/06)
Bill Moyers on FOIA and Secrecy, December 2005
On the 20th Anniversary of the founding of the National Security Archive, Bill Moyers talks about the history of the Freedom of Information Act, how President Lyndon Johnson “had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the signing ceremony,” forty years ago and about battles over secrecy since then. It’s amazing, he says, “how the farther one gets from power, the closer one often gets to the truth.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, Accepting Open Government Award, November 2005
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the son of a printer, offered a ringing defense of the First Amendment and a strong attack on government secrecy in accepting the Vermont Press Association's open government award. He reminded that The First Amendment "is one of the magnificent bequests of earlier Americans to all the generations that follow. These rights are a fragile gift, needing nurturing and protection by each new generation. "
The government goes too far, too often in the withholding information in the name of both national security and privacy, Cox Newspapers Washington Bureau Chief Andy Alexander told an audience at the Manship School of Communication at Louisiana State University in October. Examples: his bureau was denied the names of convicted felons for privacy reasons; a newsletter couldn’t get background information on a promoted bureaucrat for the same reason; a request for list of terrorism-related indictments was turned down by the Justice Department on privacy grounds as well.
The former presidential press secretary (Johnson) in a speech titled Journalists Under Fire, says that “trying to tell the truth about people whose job it is to hide the truth is almost as complicated and difficult as trying to hide it in the first place. Unless you’re willing to fight and re-fight the same battles until you go blue in the face, drive the people you work with nuts going over every last detail to make certain you’ve got it right, and then take hit after unfair hit accusing you of “bias,” or, these days, even a point of view, there’s no use even trying.”
The Associated Press president called on journalists to be more aggressive in coverage of open government and secrecy issues. He also announced intensified coverage by his organization and said AP would support creation of a legislative affairs office in Washington, D.C. He said he “respectfully disagreed” with colleagues who thought that kind of proactive step by journalists was wrong. “We do not sit in some impartial referee’s box where open government is concerned. Like it or not, we’re in the game for keeps, and we can either play badly or play well. I believe we have a duty to play well, and that it’s time to learn whether some new moves will help.”
The former White House Chief of Staff (Clinton) offers a broad survey of secrecy in America in times of crisis and argues that Americans do not have to make a choice between open government and national security. “History has shown … excessive secrecy does not lead to improved national security. Just the opposite has proved true.” Moreover, he says, “in the Information Age, the appropriate role for secrecy actually maybe shrinking rather than expanding. In a world oversaturated with information it's often no longer just the access to information that gives an edge. It is analysis of information that creates a strategic advantage.”
Lewis, who heads the Center for Public Integrity, reviews the actions of the Justice Department in reversing FOIA policy and declares the administration is embarked on “an unrelenting push to stem the free flow of information.” He examines a series of administration actions that he says reflects a “zeal for secrecy.”
