Freedom of Information - Good or Bad?

The Office of the Historian of the United States of America has released another set of classified documents this following year. I find this practice fascinating as the most secretive inner workings of strategic policy initiatives become public property. It underpins the most basic of rights of a democratic constituency to expect from their elected representatives. Almost all government activities take place behind closed doors are the representatives involved are usually classified with information that they cannot reveal. Yet, after a defined statute of limitations all of this classified information becomes opened to the public. There are many interesting questions that automatically pop into my head when I think of this civic practice.

The most intriguing questions to me relate to the possible negative consequences of revealing highly secretive materials. Do the rights of the citizenry to transparent government outweigh the need for nations to maintain their survival through national defense? Can highly secretive documents cast doubts in the minds of the citizenry strong enough to disrupt the democratic evolution of a society? How much time should be passed before letting documents such as national defense strategy, military tactical and operational strategy and doomsday scenario evaluations to ensure that the general safety of the nation can be maintained? How might documents pertaining to economic strategies and development be used by other nations to grab an upper hand in the global economy? These questions all rely on a central underlying theme: The notion of National Defense/Preservation in contrast to the Democratic/Civic Rights of the nation's citizenry. I for one believe that the rights of the citizenry should be upheld at all times but almost never in substitute for national defense. We can see this premise in action during the mass mobilizations of WWII and the restrictions imposed upon everyday citizens in terms or rationing, curfew and even freedom of speech. There are many shades of grey relating to this idea and I encourage anyone of interest to relate your opinions along with me. Personally, I want to be able to know what my government is doing as long as my knowledge of the processes does not jeopardize the country and its institutions. Let me know what you think!

If you are interested to see any of the new documents released by the Office of the Historian follow this link http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/. The latest set of documents relates to American Intervention in Latin America in terms of economic development and military interjections.