Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law

In Necessary Secrets Gabriel Schoenfeld presents a controversial scrutiny of democracy’s fundamental tension between the imperatives of security and openness. Leaking -the unauthorised disclosure of classified information-is an established part of the US government’s normal functioning. Schoenfeld examines history and legal precedent to argue that leaks have reached an extreme. He starts with The New York Times’ recent revelation of the existence of National Security Agency programmes created under the Bush administration and then steps back to the First Continental Congress’s intense preoccupation with secrecy. Discovering a growing rift between a press that sees itself as the heroic force promoting the public’s right to know and a government that needs to safeguard information vital to the effective conduct of foreign policy, Schoenfeld marshals the evidence that leaks endanger the public and merit legal prosecution.