In the Interest of National Security

It is said that ignorance is bliss, but is it really? Can we not handle the truth? WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, has been all over the news. Recently, the website released approximately 250,000 American diplomatic cables. Here's an article about it from the New York Times.

WikiLeaks has been a large thorn in the side of the American government, and these latest disclosures have proven to be detrimental. The article states that,

"The White House said the release of what it called “stolen cables” to several publications was a “reckless and dangerous action” and warned that some cables, if released in full, could disrupt American operations abroad and put the work and even lives of confidential sources of American diplomats at risk."

These specific cables tell of U.S. relations with other countries, including a "dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel" and the discussions of a unified Korea should the North collapse.

But what's really important about these cables it that they "depict the Obama administration struggling to sort out which Pakistanis are trustworthy partners against Al Qaeda, adding Australians who have disappeared in the Middle East to terrorist watch lists, and assessing whether a lurking rickshaw driver in Lahore, Pakistan, was awaiting fares or conducting surveillance of the road to the American Consulate."


With the latest Perilous Times presentations in class, the government withholding information from its people tends to reoccur numerous times. But is it right for the government to do this? Should we be kept ignorant?

I don't think so. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that "knowledge is an antidote to fear" and I completely agree with him. When we are living in such fearful times, we need to know what's going on from our government. We shouldn't have to find out information from leaked documents, they should be supplied to us. Many would argue that its safer to keep the people ignorant in the interest of national security. These are perilous times after all. But how can we know who to vote for if we can't even trust the government to supply us with the truth? How can we unite as a country against terrorism if we don't know the gravity of the situation?