Edward Quote by Daniel Ellsberg
““The cliché that “everything leaks; it all comes out in the New York Times eventually” is emphatically not true, above all for sensitive compartmented information. It’s a cover story, designed both to hide and sustain the effectiveness of the overall secrecy system. (Edward Snowden was the first ever to expose a large amount of SCI, including massively unconstitutional and criminal dragnet surveillance of American citizens and others in the world without probable cause for suspicion. Many thousands of NSA employees had known for a decade of that mass surveillance and its criminality. Not one other had disclosed it. Snowden is currently in exile, probably for life.)””
About This Quote
The claim that all secrets eventually surface, especially in the press, is a myth; some classified information remains concealed through deliberate secrecy mechanisms.
In simple terms: Not all secrets leak publicly.
Key Takeaway
Secrecy can be sustained.
Themes
secrecy
information control
media narratives
government transparency
whistleblowing
surveillance
Mood
critical
skeptical
cautious
Type
analytical
explanatory
When to use this quote
- government agencies managing secrets
- journalists investigating leaks
- whistleblowers exposing wrongdoing
- policy debates on transparency
Key Concepts
classified information
cover stories
NSA surveillance
whistleblower impact
Practical Applications
- designing robust confidentiality protocols
- assessing risks of information exposure
Questions to Reflect On
- How do secrecy systems balance security and accountability?
- What mechanisms enable certain information to stay hidden?
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