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World Policy Journal World Policy Journal http://wpj.sagepub.com/ The Big Question: What should governments keep secret? George O. Liber, Dieter Dettke, Frank Vogl, Maximilian C. Forte, Rick Falkvinge, Nada Alwadi, Chong Ja Ian and Adil Najam World Policy Journal 2013 30: 3 DOI: 10.1177/0740277513506373 The online version of this article can be found at: http://wpj.sagepub.com/content/30/3/3 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of: World Policy Institute Additional services and information for World Policy Journal can be found at: Email Alerts: http://wpj.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://wpj.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav >> Version of Record - Sep 23, 2013 What is This? Downloaded from wpj.sagepub.com at COLUMBIA UNIV on December 2, 2014 THE BIG QUESTION THE BIG QUESTION Secrecy WHAT SHOULD GOVERNMENTS KEEP SECRET? FEATURING ith secrecy a daily preoccu- GEORGE O. LIBER pation of governments who DIETER DETTKE Wroutinely weigh security FRANK VOGL concerns over disclosure of covert opera- MAXIMILIAN C. FORTE tions, the balance of these two priorities RICK FALKVINGE becomes an ever more pressing national NADA ALWADI debate. We asked our panel of global ex- CHONG JA IAN perts what, if anything, they believe gov- ADIL NAJAM ernments should or must keep secret. LOTUS CARROLL FALL 2013 3 Downloaded from wpj.sagepub.com at COLUMBIA UNIV on December 2, 2014 THE BIG QUESTION LIVING IN A SECRET WORLD more public information on terrorists and GEORGE O. LIBER terrorist organizations might be useful in All governments engage in furtive behavior the battle for the hearts and minds. More and in the name of national security com- information on terrorists could help to mit acts they prefer to conceal. It is often delegitimize their cause. Too much work too easy to oversimplify the contrast be- on terrorism by too many people is being tween the “righteousness of openness” and done on the basis of secrecy. The enormous the “evils of secrecy.” Not all confidential size of confidentialitymust be reduced. information held by governments needs The era of secret treaties is over. Today to see the light of day. Personnel files of there is less demand for the art of decep- government employees, tax records of its tion. In a democracy, transparency is the citizens, sensitive internal agency memo- normal, not the exception. Governments randa, measures to control crime, and those should keep secret as little as possible. to advance diplomacy and national defense Moving forward into the post-Snowden should not be available to the media or the era, broad legislation allowing governments public. The devil, however, is in the details. to collect data on their citizens without When governments develop extensive po- public knowledge and only held in check lice powers, create sophisticated surveil- by a secret court is not sustainable. The lance systems, or gain control of the mass bureaucracies of law enforcement need media, secrecy increases and accountability more precise legislation and more efficient withers away. As the experience of Russia congressional oversight. The quality of and most post-communist countries in Eur- legislation dealing with personal data asia demonstrates, limited transparency too needs to be improved. There is an urgent often nurtures moral and criminal corrup- need for more balance between the needs of tion, massive fraud, and the undermining law enforcement and individual freedom. of democratic institutions. In the realm of the military, governments need room for secrecy and confidentiality. George O. Liber, a specialist on the Soviet Union What governments legitimately need to and Modern Ukraine, is Professor of History keep secret must be checked with as much at the University of Alabama at Birmingham openness about capabilities and intentions and an International Election Observer for the as possible. Deception is only useful for Organization for Security and Coooperation in the purpose of waging war. To avoid war, Europe (OSCE). openness is an advantage. AS LITTLE AS POssIBLE Dieter Dettke is a foreign and security policy DIETER DETTKE specialist and an adjunct professor at George- Total openness and transparency is not town University. possible. Governments need confidential- ity for consultations during negotiations GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY on treaties, agreements, and joint actions. FRANK VOGL In the fight against international terror- In remote, poor villages across India, citi- ism, certain data and information with re- zens are learning how to use the Right to gard to ongoing operations must remain Information Act to hold local government secret. A legitimate question is whether officials accountable. As a result, tens of 4 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL Downloaded from wpj.sagepub.com at COLUMBIA UNIV on December 2, 2014 SECRECY thousands of very poor people are secur- SECRET FROM WHOM? ing healthcare and other social benefits to MAXIMILIAN C. FORTE which they are entitled, but which corrupt Not all governments are alike. There are officials have long denied them. not just differences in ideology, but also Indeed, access to information is crucial in the varying capacities of states which to curbing every facet of corruption. Some governments rule. Moreover, each is dif- years ago, then UK Prime Minister Tony ferently situated in terms of power in a Blair halted a UK Serious Fraud Squad in- global context. Strategies and objectives vestigation into alleged foreign bribery by vis-à-vis citizens and other nation-states British Aerospace, Europe’s largest arms thus vary widely. So-called weaker states manufacturer, on the grounds of national of the “periphery,” formerly colonized security. The Organization for Economic nations, especially those which are the Cooperation and Development challenged targets of covert war, economic destabi- Blair’s decision, arguing it violated the lization, and political inference both by OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Eventu- more powerful states and by multilateral ally, the United Kingdom legislated a new financial institutions, have historically tough anti-bribery law, and British Aero- been the ones with the most to lose from space was prosecuted. “openness” (whether voluntary, or as in Too many governments claim a right most cases, coerced). to maintain information secrecy on the The question of what governments grounds of national security. This enables should keep secret also implies a second them to abstain from publishing their de- question: secret from whom? Here ques- fense/military budgets and procurement in tions of legitimacy arise, and legitimacy the defense sector. Needless to say, corrup- is differently grounded and constituted tion is often rampant in the defense sector across diverse societies. It is already un- in such countries. When national security derstood that all governments attempt to is deployed to assert secrecy, it needs to be restrict access to some information so it tightly defined, and the public needs to be can be circulated among limited numbers effectively assured there are vigilant mecha- of appointed agents and specialists. Se- nisms in place to guard against abuse. It is crecy is not so much about the “unknow- vital that those in government who are able able,” as it is about who gets to “tell” to to operate in secrecy do not have the ability whom, and when. Secrecy is embedded in to transform their operations into islands of relations of trust and notions of responsi- corruption. The public has a right to know bility, but it can also impede accountabil- what areas of governmental activity its gov- ity. Power is also the basis of secrecy, and ernment wishes to keep secret, what the jus- sometimes secrecy is pursued for the sake tifications are, and what respective indepen- of it— to entrench or advance that power. dent review systems are in place to serve the Secrecy is thus more about the power to public interest. set the rules governing knowledge acqui- sition than it is about the empirical con- Frank Vogl is the author of Waging War on tent of the knowledge itself. Therefore, Corruption—Inside the Movement Fight- a catalogue of essentially secret informa- ing the Abuse of Power and co-founder of tion is not a productive avenue of inquiry Transparency International. either: the answer will not only be highly FALL 2013 5 Downloaded from wpj.sagepub.com at COLUMBIA UNIV on December 2, 2014 THE BIG QUESTION variable given the diverse power and poli- positive change, I would argue. The next cies of states worldwide, but it will also generation is going to demand that kind be very contingent and in constant flux. of accountability in the long term. De- mocracy, after all, depends on the elector- Maximilian C. Forte is an associate professor in ate’s ability to critically evaluate the per- the Department of Sociology and Anthropology formance of its elected leaders. at Concordia University in Montreal. Rick Falkvinge is the founder and first party INFRasTRUCTURE WAR leader of the Swedish Pirate Party. RICK FALKVINGE There is an infrastructure war going on BARING SECRETS at the moment. Who gets to control the NADA ALWADI world’s information? Governments and For an investigative journalist in the corporations are fighting to get control Arab world, government secrecy has al- over it, and to deny citizens both insight ways been a problem. Ideally, govern- and control of the same. This is alarm- ments should keep secrets to a bare mini- ing. All societies in history with trans- mum. In an ideal world, governments parent citizens and a closed-door govern- should be completely transparent. But ment have been low-happiness societies. we don’t live in an ideal world. So I un- We need the concept of privacy for the derstand when governments keep secrets citizenry and the concept of accountabil- in the name of “national security.” But ity for government.
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