U.S. Government Secrecy and the Current Crackdown on Leaks

Abstract

In the never-ending sparring match between the government and the news media, no subject produces more friction than the practice of leaking classified information. Government officials—at least those who don’t leak—denounce the practice. They say it can damage intelligence operations and reduce the government’s ability to detect and deter terrorists or other enemies.

Journalists, on the other hand, say they couldn’t do their jobs without the leaks. Almost all leaks come from government officials, they point out. And, in an era of managed news and wholesale classification of government documents, such back-channel information is often the only way the public can gain an understanding of what its government is thinking and doing.