Friday, July 5, 2013

The Secret About Secrets

Recently, a reader wrote to me asking about my thoughts on the NSA revelations and the whistleblower.  My response was not quickly forthcoming, as I feel drawn in multiple directions by its several implications.

The first issue is the accusation of governmental spying.  If the nature of the National Security Agency’s activities is as reported, then it is questionable to describe it as “spying.”  The agency is gathering together existing data from commercial communications networks and loading it all into one super-database.  The stated intention is that if a terrorist threat arises, this database would facilitate quickly identifying linkages among potential suspects.  No phone conversations are listened to; no emails are read.  NSA is simply gathering together and logging existing information.  To take this second step requires a court-ordered warrant as is standard for any other review of otherwise confidential personal information.  No new data has been created.

We already have much personal information that we have surrendered to thousands of computer networks.  Information that is tracked long after its moment of creation.  Information that is available in criminal investigations when proven justified.  As long as a court warrant stands between the details of this information and law enforcement, it is hard to see how the fact of my phone call (versus the content) differs from records of my fingerprints, bank and credit card transactions, my motor vehicle and driving records, or the frequency of my voting (versus who I voted for).  Or the new databases of DNA data.

The counterforce to our privacy rights is the very real threat from terrorists.  Americans have become very fearful of various physical and mental threats over the past two decades.  And more desirous of avoiding even the natural risks of life, much less the crimes of terrorist actions.  Hence more demands for “guaranteed safety” – a goal that is not at all achievable.  We see this evidenced in all the finger pointing that goes on after a terror incident (e.g. in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing).  The expectation of absolute safety keeps rising even as the techniques of the terrorists grow ever more sophisticated and pervasive.

In some instances, our fears have led to an excessive surrender of our rights of privacy.  Hence my strong abhorrence of the post-9/11 “Patriot Act” that was not at all patriotic.  But some surrender is required.  It is the reality of the global linkages and terrorist partnerships that exist in today’s digitally-connected world.  If we keep demanding greater protection, then we have to grant greater access to the available tools that can provide that protection.  This is going to be a delicate balancing dance we will be performing for the foreseeable future, an improvised dance as situations arise each day.

Which brings us to the issue of secrets and whistleblowers.  Not everyone in the world is our friend.  We need to not create enemies and false demons where they do not exist.  But we do need to respond appropriately to those who genuinely intend to harm us.  How we go about that response must, at times, be kept secret in order to be effective.  The surprise attack is still often more effective than the frontal assault.  These defensive tactics are valid “national security secrets.”  Unfortunately, we have a penchant for over-classifying too much information as “secret.”  When that over-information is revealed by a courageous whistleblower, I applaud those efforts.  That light of transparency keeps lesser men and women from hiding their corrupt and self-interested actions.  But when someone inappropriately reveals genuinely secure information, especially when it endangers the lives of people who live every day in personal risk as they work to protect the public, then that is not being a “whistleblower.”  That is someone putting personal self-righteousness ahead of reasonable judgment about consequences.

Over 40 years ago, Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg released “The Pentagon Papers” – a secret historical analysis commissioned by the Pentagon that ultimately documented the lies and underhanded hidden dealings that contributed to the morass of the Viet Nam War.  Yet there was no security apparatus or spy operative names or public safety tactics revealed by that release.  The information made public served to inform the debate while jeopardizing no one’s safety.  After Ellsberg made his revelation, he then nobly stood to face the consequences of his actions against the American legal system.  I continue to regard Daniel Ellsberg very highly for his reasoned action and his willingness to take ownership for what he did.

No so with this NSA release.  Edward Snowden is not a whistleblower.  He is a criminal who violated his signed oath of confidentiality without regard for his consequences, or without consideration of a balanced review of rights versus safety.  He has acknowledged that he sought his NSA job specifically to access these secrets in order to reveal them to the American public.  Yet the information has also simultaneously gone to unfriendly terrorists and foreign governments.  He dumped the information out, then ran off seeking asylum from countries who are the epitome of government secrets and a lack of freedom of speech and press.  He is not the whistleblower who reveals corporate pollution, false drug research trials, or political corruption, and thereby stimulates needed correction.  Instead, his actions have endangered the lives of many innocent people.  He is the wrong person on the wrong topic at the wrong time with the wrong outcomes.

Balancing rights versus safety, privacy versus citizen responsibility, whistleblowing versus treason, is very hard.  In this particular instance, I am willing to call reasonable a database that only tracks instances of data, versus listening to my conversations which is unreasonable.  I am willing to give credence to the oversight of the courts and to the bipartisan support from Congressional leaders who have known about and monitored this program since its inception.  But this acceptance is not a blanket one.  It is still a case-by-case discussion, and an assessment of each person-by-person whistleblower.  And unless it is absolutely otherwise necessary, the default remains for the government to stay out of my personal life.

The true overriding “big picture” issue here is the idea of secrets themselves.  We increasingly live in a “tell-all” Facebook age where sharing the details of our lives – even with near-strangers – has become the expectation.  Post-Woodward & Bernstein, the media builds upon that new culture and presumes how dare one not be forthcoming to any question they ask – whether pertinent or not.  And all conversations within government are expected to be made public.  Secrets are seen inherently as being bad.

But there is a case for secrets.  We all have parts of our lives and history not intended for public consumption.  Performance conversations between a manager and an employee are not appropriate to tell other employees.  Debates to determine policy and to give guidance to leaders require secrecy around frank discussions to develop best-considered recommendations.  One of the greatest government secrets of all was the four months of meetings which produced our marvelous Constitution – a total secrecy kept from the public by all convention delegates.  James Madison later reflected that had there not been such secrecy to allow for wide-open discussions and changes of opinions, our Constitution which embodies our freedoms would never have been produced.  So let us not have a modern-day knee-jerk reaction to secrecy itself.  Let us pause to judge the appropriateness of each secret on its own merits.  And judge the revelation of that secret, and the revealer, on the broadest measure of its consequences.

©2013 Randy Bell

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This posting was another well reasoned, reader friendly and provocative piece. In other words, "You done real good!"

Anonymous said...

Well said, Randy. I am still thinking about it since so many folks that I also know and respect are very upset about it. I might find it easier to make a determination if Snowden was a more likeable fellow. Hmmmm

Anonymous said...

Very thought provoking