The Conversation on Radical Information Transparency and the Government continues

” . . . the national security apparatus is groaning under the weight of record amounts of classified information, not to mention the attendant material costs of protecting its secrets for longer and longer periods of time. To be sure, this is partly due to the fact that it’s collecting more intelligence than ever before, thanks to a far greater number of methods and means. But it is also the hallmark of a firmly rooted ‘culture of classification,’ one that prizes secrecy not just for legitimate reasons of state security but often in the service of unhealthier causes as well, like bureaucratic turf protection or concealment of potentially embarrassing missteps.”