The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals about America's Top Secrets
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDHILL HISTORY PRIZE - Every day, thousands of new secrets are created by the United States government. What is all this secrecy really for? And whom does it benefit? "A brilliant, deeply unsettling look at the history and inner workings of 'the dark state'.... At a time when federal agencies are increasingly classifying or destroying documents with historical significance, this book could not be more important." --Eric Schlosser, New York Times best-selling author of Command and Control Before World War II, transparent government was a proud tradition in the United States. In all but the most serious of circumstances, classification, covert operations, and spying were considered deeply un-American. But after the war, the power to decide what could be kept secret proved too tempting to give up. Since then, we have radically departed from that open tradition, allowing intelligence agencies, black sites, and classified laboratories to grow unchecked. Officials insis