Michael Ledeen Quotes
If we cannot keep secrets, it is impossible for our leaders to have the adequate information on which to base their policies.
Michael Ledeen, Historian, Philosopher, Foreign Policy Analyst], Consultant to the U. S. National Security Council, Department of State, and the Department of Defense, Speech, Intelligence and Free Society Conference, National Forum Foundation, Washington, May 30, 1989
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At the time Jay was engaged in secret counterintelligence operations in upstate New York and some material had been leaked by members of the Congress.
CREEP in the Nixon Campaign
At the time Holland was a republic and a confederation of different states. There was an assembly of delegations from each of the States but most important decisions tended to be made by the Prince and a few of the representatives in his sway. Mathenesse was the delegate of the largest and wealthiest state but even others in his state delegation were out of the loop. Others claimed that the necessity of secrecy was just a pretext for a small group to dominate the republic. See {620069}. This battle goes on in almost every country including the United States where there are many matters in which only a few members of Congress and the President make decisions with national security given as the reason. In many cases there has been such a reason, but it is very easily corrupted into a pretext as only the people on the inside who get to make the decision know what the secret material was.
The “gentleman” was a member of Congress. This is an issue between the Congress and the Executive Branch which has existed as long as our Republic: Whether all members of Congress should have access to all classified secret information of the Government. Mrs. Roosevelt who was usually an advocate of transparency, on this issue tended to side with the argument of the executive branch. Note that the arguments made in 1939 are still fought over today.
Privacy was a much more important value then and for Smith and most contemporaries there should be NO compromising records kept at all. Keeping records secret was itself an unacceptable compromise.
Michael Arthur Ledeen is an American historian, neoconservative foreign policy analyst, and author with a PhD in philosophy. He is a former consultant to the United States National Security Council, the United States Department of State, and the United States Department of Defense. He held the Freedom Scholar chair at the American Enterprise Institute where he was a scholar for twenty years and now holds the similarly named chair at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
