Jane E. Kirtley Quotes
How did we come to this: a Kafkaesque world where information that is in the public domain can be retroactively declared secret.
Jane E. Kirtley, Director, Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law, “The American Executive Branch: A Culture of Secrecy,” The Long Term View, Fall 2003
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The SBU’s were invented by executive agencies without any congressional authorization and used to keep things from public view that did not meet the criteria of the security classification system. Many just saved the agencies from answering many questions but many were just cover ups for embarrassing government actions or incompetence.
As hard as it is for us to imagine today, while her husband was President of the United States, the First Lady wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column every single day with politics frequently the subject. While she usually agreed with the President, there were occasions where they seemed to not see things exactly the same. She tended to be more liberal than he. However, there were those who believed that when she criticized politicians, it was with FDR’s knowledge and blessing and she sometimes did his “dirty work.” Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most influential people in the country—certainly more-so than any First Lady before and since.
Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a friend in a hunting accident becoming the first U. S. Vice President to shoot a man since Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton. However, the Vice President and his staff did not make the shooting public till the next day and then by having a member of the hunting party call a small local, friendly, Texas newspaper. Finally, under great pressure the Vice President gave an interview to the Fox News Network, the network who had been most favorable in reporting on the administration.
In the early 1950’s Costello’s Health Minister Noel Browne introduced proposal to provide health care for mothers and children. The Irish Catholic Bishops objected and in the face of their opposition the remainder of the cabinet abandoned the plan. When the public found out, it became a cause celebre. Browne resigned, and the Protestants of Northern Ireland argued that this was an example of Catholic religious control of the Southern Irish government. The President was distressed that the public had ever found out.
