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Secrecy
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Put an end to the current U.S. over-reliance on secrecy as a means of promoting national security or any other purpose.
Time Limit on Secrecy: Place a general 2-year time limit on future secrets or classified information, for whatever purpose, to be maintained by any agency of the U.S. government.
- As much as possible, shape future policies within a framework which will not require long periods of secrecy in order to achieve their intended goals, and thus put less reliance on secrecy in the future.
- Include in this the findings of any investigating Commissions or Congressional subcommittee hearings which have been placed under secrecy. Let such findings be declassified and exposed in two years from the date of the findings.
Exceptions:
- Let an exception to the 2-year limit be the identities of long-term undercover agents.
- In the case of already-existing classified information, allow an outside time limit of 10 years, after which point declassify it. After that let the general 2-year limit apply to new government secrets.
- Other possible exceptions are not ruled out, but require these to be enumerated in an explicit list of excepted categories, outside of which the 2-year rule applies to all secrets.
- Thus, let long-term secrecy become the exception rather than the rule.
- Nothing said here applies to personal private information of any kind, or to industrial-commercial secrecy.
Inspections of Government Facilities:
Let all government facilities or compounds anywhere, including on foreign soil, including military-related, be made available to inspectors.
- Require secret clearances for the inspectors if necessary.
- Choose inspectors who will be of similar status or background to citizens who serve on grand juries, so the public may be assured that they are not beholden to partisan political interests or lobbyists.
- Grant these inspectors admittance to any facilities controlled by the government with full access to all information pertaining to the functions and operations in the facilities.
- Grant the inspectors access to scientists and others who will fully explain and demonstrate the operations and answer all questions put to them by the inspectors.
- Though under obligation to safeguard current classified information disclosed to them, let the inspectors issue to the public, as they see fit, any unclassified information regarding the facilities as well as their findings on the merits of the operations taking place in the facilities.
- Grant all citizens access to the inspectors to identify facilities they want to be inspected, and let the inspectors alone make the decisions which facilities to inspect.
- Make it a felony offense for any government official to apply pressure to the inspectors regarding what to inspect or how or when to do an inspection or to in any way interfere with the inspectors.