| Description |
1 online resource (x, 350 pages) |
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text file rda |
| Contents |
From the Garden of Eden to America's founding -- More openness to more secrecy : America from the founding to the secrecy era -- Appropriate secrecy and its limits : 9/11, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and where to drop the first atomic bomb -- Building power through secrecy : J. Edgar Hoover and Dick Cheney -- Six secrecy stories : from slavery to science -- Cultures of secrecy -- The seduction of secrecy -- Leaks, investigative journalism, and nonprofit watchdogs -- Congress I : investigation and oversight -- Congress II : the Freedom of Information Act -- The courts and secrecy -- Author's note: Personal encounters with secrecy. |
| Summary |
"From Dick Cheney's man-sized safe to NSA's massive intelligence gathering, secrecy has captured the American government's modus operandi better than the ideals of the Constitution. In this important new book, Fritz Schwarz, who was chief counsel to the U.S. Church Committee on Intelligence-which uncovered CIA plots to assassinate world leaders, including Fidel Castro's exploding cigar-uses examples ranging from the dropping of the first Atomic bomb, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to Iran Contra and 9/11 to illuminate this central question: How much secrecy does good governance require? Schwarz argues that while some control of information is necessary, governments tend to fall prey to a culture of secrecy that is ultimately not just hazardous to democracy but antithetical to it. This historical survey provides the essential context to understand recent cases from Chelsea Manning to Edward Snowden. Democracy in the Dark is a natural companion to Schwarz's Unchecked and Unbalanced, co-written with Aziz Huq, which plumbed the power of the executive branch-a power that often depends on and derives from the use of secrecy."-- Provided by publisher. |
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A comprehensive investigation of confidential government activities illuminates how illegitimate forms of secrecy have actually subverted democracy while shedding light on the figures who have nefariously deployed secrecy. |
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"From Dick Cheney's man-sized safe to NSA's massive intelligence gathering, secrecy has captured the American government's modus operandi better than the ideals of the Constitution. In this important new book, Fritz Schwarz, who was chief counsel to the U.S. Church Committee on Intelligence-which uncovered CIA plots to assassinate world leaders, including Fidel Castro's exploding cigar-uses examples ranging from the dropping of the first Atomic bomb, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to Iran Contra and 9/11 to illuminate this central question: How much secrecy does good governance require? Schwarz argues that while some control of information is necessary, governments tend to fall prey to a culture of secrecy that is ultimately not just hazardous to democracy but antithetical to it. This historical survey provides the essential context to understand recent cases from Chelsea Manning to Edward Snowden. Democracy in the Dark is a natural companion to Schwarz's Unchecked and Unbalanced, co-written with Aziz Huq, which plumbed the power of the executive branch-a power that often depends on and derives from the use of secrecy. "-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| System Details |
Requires Boundless App. |
| Subject |
Freedom of information -- United States.
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Official secrets -- United States.
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Intelligence service -- Law and legislation -- United States.
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Freedom of information. |
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Intelligence service -- Law and legislation. |
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Official secrets. |
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Regierung. |
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Informationspolitik. |
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Geheimdienst. |
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Geheimhaltung. |
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United States. |
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USA. |
| Genre |
Electronic books. |
| Other Form: |
Electronic reproduction of (manifestation): Schwarz, Frederick A. O. (Frederick August Otto), 1935- Democracy in the dark New York : The New Press, 2015 9781620970515 (DLC) 2014035650 (OCoLC)884815152 |
| ISBN |
9781620970522 : $26.99 |
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162097052X : $26.99 |
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