A Very Good Point

And I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else. Nor did I think of it.

I started thinking about this earlier this month, when Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA's illegal domestic spying operation. I was struck by how many people describing something that's not much more than a bulked-up non disclosure agreement spoke of some sacred secrecy "oath." The meme has really taken hold -- Director of Central Intelligence John Brennan is now explicitly demanding that CIA employees "Honor The Oath," thereby implying that a secrecy agreement is of significance equal to a CIA employee's (actual) oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Doubtless many journalists will uncritically regurgitate Brennan's terminology, never pausing to consider whether there even is such a secrecy "oath," or whether it should be treated as remotely important as an oath to protect and defend the Constitution.

  Barry Eisler

I’ll have to remember that next time – and there WILL be a next time – I hear that oath claim.

Furthermore…

And then I read about Obama's Insider Threat Program, his policy for getting all government employees to inform on each other and equating all leaks with aiding and abetting enemies. [Think] how insane and Stazi-like this initiative really is. It almost reads like a parody. But it isn't. It's the behavior of a paranoid government that has become psychologically obsessed with the value of the secrets it hoards. And what's at least as disturbing as the program itself is how little attention it's gotten in the press or among the public. Again, too many Americans have come to accept that massive secrecy isn't just normal, but in fact desirable.

[...]

We have to remember that the government wants us to believe that secrecy is a paramount value, that secrecy is a fundamental source of our society's strength, that maintaining it is a vital obligation subject to sacred oaths and requiring that we inform on each other if we suspect someone has deviated.

[...]

Our addiction [to secrecy] has made us lose sight of what really makes us strong: the Constitution; and just and sane policies; and our commitment to being a good nation instead of a priapic obsession with being a Great one. East Germany relied on secrecy for its strength. So did Communist Russia. Do want to use those states as role models?

[...]

By the way, the army calls its enforced ignorance campaign [of blocking online access to the Guardian] "Network Hygiene." I really thought Disposition Matrix for an assassination program was about as good as it could get, but Network Hygiene is providing some solid competition.

[...]

Note to self: when you have to come up with nomenclature that sounds not just Orwellian, but like a parody of Orwell, to try to justify what you're doing, it's not a good sign. You might want to take a step back and ask why you're trying so hard to obfuscate. It's almost like your conscience is trying to tell you something.

*Smiley face*

But here's a point that I have thought of - many times - since the screaming memes have been at work smearing Glenn Greenwald:

Glenn Greenwald could be an axe murderer whose favorite hobby is bludgeoning baby seals -- and it would have zero bearing on the accuracy, relevance, or importance of what he's reported.

  Barry Eisler

And that goes for Ed Snowden, too.