Secret Military Meetings?

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Secrecy is not new to the millitary, and there are a lot on instances where it is absolutely necessary, but it doesn't need to be used to hide important information from the public.  The San Francisco Examiner reports that secrecy is the word of the day:

"Compare that to what is now transpiring within the Department of Defense (DOD). There, uniformed military officers and civilian government employees have been forced to sign a secrecy oath while they meet privately, behind closed doors, to decide the fate of nation's defense budget."

The rationale for the secrecy is that it will allow the entire budget to be presented at once, allowing better anaylsis (rather than have people react to leaked bits and pieces).  Remember the vote on the stimulus package?  It was given to the Senators less than twelve hours before the vote and was over seven hundred pages long.  Very few Senators had a chance to read it before they voted.  I have a feeling we are about to see that trick tried again.

It is interesting to me that the only serious budget cutting is going to be done in the area of defense.  There should not be a 'peace dividend' at this time.  In case President Obama has not noticed--there is no peace.

The article ends with this statement:

"But whether Gates is right or wrong is irrelevant. Defense Department budgetary decisions should not be made in secret; they should be made in public. America is not the Soviet Union or China; America is a democratic republic. Here the people rule.

What makes the secret deliberations even more unconscionable is that the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other senior military leaders will be forced to pledge allegiance to Gates' ultimate decisions. The American people, consequently, will never know whether and why senior military leaders disagreed with specific defense cuts.

But unless we understand, in all its rich detail and complexity, the reasoning and thought process that undergirded this process, we the people cannot make wise and informed decisions about our defense budget.

Congress needs to intervene and demand an end to these secret proceedings and the secret oaths. Congress also must subpoena and swear under oath all key participants in these deliberations, including but not limited to, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior three- and four-star Generals and Admirals.

We need to learn the truth about how defense budgetary decisions were reached and decided. This is America. Here the people rule."

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This page contains a single entry by Granny G published on March 30, 2009 7:19 AM.

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