BobHarris.com - Secrecy Pledges in Homeland Security

Books! Actual books!

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-- Joss Whedon, creator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"I haven't seen Jeopardy! since I was a kid, and yet I was charmed and amused by Bob Harris's fascinating and surprisingly suspenseful book. Through sheer force of personality, he takes this brainy TV show and makes it funny and easy to relate to."

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-- Brad Rutter, top money-winner in Jeopardy! history

Books I'm Getting

Who Hates Whom:
Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts,
and Various Things Blowing Up —
A Woefully Incomplete Guide™

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— Boston Globe

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— Ken Jennings, author of Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs

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— John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise
and correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

"All three [presidential] candidates should read all three of these [recommended] books, but McCain gets first crack at Bob Harris's "Who Hates Whom“... a lighthearted overview of the insurrections and civil wars in the world today."

— Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought, in the New York Times Book Review

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Secrecy Pledges in Homeland Security

Tag it now -

Tuesday, 16 November 2004

From today's WP:

Homeland Security Employees Required to Sign Secrecy Pledge
Gag Order Raises Concern on Hill

... Steven Aftergood, editor of the [Federation of American Scientists] newsletter, which reported the policy last week, said the DHS is sweeping whole categories of government information under restrictions previously used only for classified data. Such categories include "official use only" and "law enforcement sensitive."

"Its likely consequence will be to chill even the most mundane interactions between department employees and reporters or the general public," said Aftergood, who obtained a copy of the form under the Freedom of Information Act. "Employees will naturally fear that even the most trivial conversation could mean a violation of this draconian agreement, and so the result will be a new wall between the government and the public."

Oh, man. This is getting scary.

Fast-forward ten years, and we're all crammed into a small village in Guyana. Bush, in dark sunglasses, popped out of his gourd on mescaline daiquiris, black-market tranquilizers, and comforting VapoRub, begins murmuring through tinny loudspeakers as Condi begins to pour a purple fluid into Dixie cups: "drink the potion, children. Drink the potion..."