[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Capablanca Teaches Us The ONLY Chess Opening You'll Ever Need

"How Bruce Springsteen Fooled America"

How ancient Rome was excavated in Italy in the 1920s. Unique rare videos and photos.

Reagan JOKE On The Homeless

The Deleted Wisdom (1776 Report)

Sicko Transfaggots video

The Englund Gambit Checkmate

20 Minutes Of Black DC Residents Supporting Trump's Federal Takeover!

"Virginia Public Schools Deserve This Reckoning"

"'Pack the Bags, We're Going on a Guilt Trip'—the Secret to the Democrats' Success"

"Washington, D.C., Is a Disgrace"

"Trump Orders New 'Highly Accurate' Census Excluding Illegals"

what a freakin' insane asylum

Sorry, CNN, We're Not Going to Stop Talking About the Russian Collusion Hoax

"No Autopsy Can Restore the Democratic Party’s Viability"

RIP Ozzy

"Trump floats 'restriction' for Commanders if they fail to ditch nickname in favor of Redskins return"

"Virginia Governor’s Race Heats Up As Republican Winsome Sears Does a Hard Reboot of Her Campaign"

"We Hate Communism!!"

"Mamdani and the Democratic Schism"

"The 2nd Impeachment: Trump’s Popularity Still Scares Them to Death"

"President Badass"

"Jasmine Crockett's Train Wreck Interview Was a Disaster"

"How Israel Used Spies, Smuggled Drones and AI to Stun and Hobble Iran"

There hasn’T been ... a single updaTe To This siTe --- since I joined.

"This Is Not What Authoritarianism Looks Like"

America Erupts… ICE Raids Takeover The Streets

AC/DC- Riff Raff + Go Down [VH1 Uncut, July 5, 1996]

Why is Peter Schiff calling Bitcoin a ‘giant cult’ and how does this impact market sentiment?

Esso Your Butt Buddy Horseshit jacks off to that shit

"The Addled Activist Mind"

"Don’t Stop with Harvard"

"Does the Biden Cover-Up Have Two Layers?"

"Pete Rose, 'Shoeless' Joe Reinstated by MLB, Eligible for HOF"

"'Major Breakthrough': Here Are the Details on the China Trade Deal"

Freepers Still Love war

Parody ... Jump / Trump --- van Halen jump

"The Democrat Meltdown Continues"

"Yes, We Need Deportations Without Due Process"

"Trump's Tariff Play Smart, Strategic, Working"

"Leftists Make Desperate Attempt to Discredit Photo of Abrego Garcia's MS-13 Tattoos. Here Are Receipts"

"Trump Administration Freezes $2 Billion After Harvard Refuses to Meet Demands"on After Harvard Refuses to Meet Demands

"Doctors Committing Insurance Fraud to Conceal Trans Procedures, Texas Children’s Whistleblower Testifies"

"Left Using '8647' Symbol for Violence Against Trump, Musk"

KawasakiÂ’s new rideable robohorse is straight out of a sci-fi novel

"Trade should work for America, not rule it"

"The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Race – What’s at Risk for the GOP"

"How Trump caught big-government fans in their own trap"

‘Are You Prepared for Violence?’

Greek Orthodox Archbishop gives President Trump a Cross, tells him "Make America Invincible"


Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Opinions/Editorials
See other Opinions/Editorials Articles

Title: A Pentagon Campaign to Keep the Public in the Dark
Source: Bloomberg
URL Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a ... s-on-wall-and-declares-victory
Published: Jan 21, 2019
Author: Editorial Board
Post Date: 2019-01-26 16:41:03 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 293

Reports that were never classified before are suddenly considered top-secret.

President Trump doesn’t much care for efforts to monitor and report on wasteful Pentagon spending and other military inefficiencies. This month, he ordered acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan to withhold battlefield reports from inspectors general in order to keep the information from becoming public.

“The public means the enemy,” Trump explained. “Those reports should be private reports.”

This order doubles down on a worrying trend at the Defense Department since Trump took office toward increasing unnecessary secrecy.

{"contentId":"PLOO6O6JIJV201","position":"box","dimensions":{"mobile":[[300,250],[1,1]]},"type":"Mobile Body Box Ad","positionIncrement":1,"targeting":{"position":"box1","positionIncrement":1,"url":"/opinion/articles/2019-01-21/pentagon-secrecy-a-campaign-to-keep-the-public-uninformed"},"containerId":"box-Mk5zMZf"}

While it’s true that the Pentagon has always kept its share of secrets, and for good reason, it is working toward a new level of opacity, classifying all sorts of information that has been public in the past — including the inspection grades on America’s nuclear-weapons infrastructure, records of Navy aviation accidents, and Government Accountability Office assessments of Pentagon waste. The Defense Department has also stopped revealing publicly the numbers of troops it has deployed in each theater of the war on terrorism.

Might these new restrictions be justified? It’s impossible to say, because the Pentagon offers only a vague explanation: “We balance the need to release information with our non-negotiable obligation to protect our most valuable asset — our people.”

{"contentId":"PLOO6O6JIJV201","position":"desktop-in-article1","dimensions":{"large_desktop":[[5,21]],"small_desktop":[[5,21]]},"type":"Desktop in article Native Ad","targeting":{"position":"desktop-in-article1","url":"/opinion/articles/2019-01-21/pentagon-secrecy-a-campaign-to-keep-the-public-uninformed"},"containerId":"desktop-in-article-1-PLOO6O6JIJV201"}

But it is also important to preserve public trust in the armed forces, and that requires transparency. Congress and the American public need to know that secrets are kept only when it is essential — not when it merely protects the military from embarrassment or budgetary scrutiny.

Without accurate information on the success or lack of success of specific programs, Congress cannot properly plan future budgets. The details that Pentagon IGs gather on strategy and progress also inform the national debate that Americans need to have on the war on terrorism — the longest war in U.S. history.

Lawmakers from both parties responsible for the defense budget have complained about the new secrecy. Adam Smith, the new Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has accused the Defense Department of waging “a war on transparency.”

{"contentId":"PLOO6O6JIJV201","position":"in-article1","dimensions":{"mobile":[[5,19],[300,250],[1,1]],"tablet":[[5,19],[728,90],[1,1]]},"type":"In Article Flex Native Ad","positionIncrement":1,"targeting":{"position":"in-article1","positionIncrement":1,"url":"/opinion/articles/2019-01-21/pentagon-secrecy-a-campaign-to-keep-the-public-uninformed"},"containerId":"in-article-1-PLOO6O6JIJV201"}

That’s one war Americans should hope the military will lose. The late Senator John McCain demonstrated one way to resist: In recent years, when the Pentagon held back details on the collisions of two Navy destroyers, the deaths of four special operations troops in Niger and the loosening of rules of engagement in Afghanistan, he held up the confirmations of defense officials until he got the information.

Congress should continue to demand that the military disclose its operations — or explain in detail why it cannot.

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Please report web page problems, questions and comments to webmaster@libertysflame.com