Wanna know a secret? Some nice Independence Day news, courtesy of the International Herald-Tribune: Driven in part by fears of terrorism, government secrecy in the United States has reached a historic high by several measures. Federal departments now classify documents at the rate of 125 a minute as they create new categories of semisecrets bearing vague labels like "sensitive security information."
The cost to taxpayers for all this secrecy? Only about $7.2 billion a year. But, really, who can put a price on security?
And what kind of nefarious information is our government protecting us from? "You'd just be amazed at the kind of information that's classified - everyday information, things we all know from the newspaper," said Thomas Kean, chairman of the Sept. 11 commission and a former Republican. "We're better off with openness. The best ally we have in protecting ourselves against terrorism is an informed public."