#255 / Top Secret America

I am reading a book by Dana Priest (former editor of City On A Hill Press and an investigative reporter for the Washington Post) and William M. Arkin (a Washington Post columnist who specializes in military affairs).

The book is called Top Secret America, and was published just this month. It makes a convincing case that America has become a "security state," with the Executive Branch committed to what amounts to a "repeal of the Constitution," and the continued existence of which is premised on secrecy.

According to the authors:

Many of those journalists [who have been trying to penetrate the secrecy restrictions imposed by the Executive Branch and to let the American people know what is going on] hoped [for] ... change under the presidency of Barack Obama. It is true the president and his cabinet members have not publicly disparaged the news media as much as his predecessor did. But behind the scenes, the situation is actually much worse. President Obama's Justice Department has taken a more aggressive tack against the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by pursuing more so-called leak investigations than the Bush administration.

He who has ears, let him hear.