Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Probably not wise, but was this really a "secret"?

U.S. Releases Secret List of Nuclear Sites Accidentally
By WILLIAM J. BROAD, NYT
Published: June 2, 2009
The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons.

Okay - this was a screw-up.
BUT: how much of the information was truly "secret" - unknown and unknowable via publicly available sources?

Me? I think our "classification" system needs radical reform... pretty much starting from scratch.
With very few exceptions, everything gets declassified TOMORROW! - if it really ought to be kept secret, the owner provides a cogent, clear, defensible rationale TODAY.

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