Having held a Top Secret level clearance in the Air Force, I can say unequivocally that Goldfarb’s 90% figure is low. As a sideline specialty, I used to give intel briefings where my only sources were Janes’ and Aviation Week and Space Technology. The briefings were classified “secret”! I gave secret briefings on the Lebanese civil war in the ‘70s using cables between military attaches as source material. Completely banal, cocktail party gossip stuff, but classified as a matter of habit rather than necessity. I was required to stamp all my briefing notes with a “Classified” rubber stamp!

Having said all this, I do believe that the reason the vast majority of stuff is classified is NOT because the “secret” itself might be embarrassing, but because the source of the information needs to be protected. (Which doesn’t explain the classification of my briefings sourced from public documents, I know.) Who cares if the Sultan of Lilliput is gay- the point is, if the only person who knows that is his butler, a CIA informant planted there because the Sultan hates the US, then to expose the fact is to expose the source.

There are serious secrets and Assange doesn’t know them. All he has done is upset the cozy, cloistered, but, in the grand scheme of things, harmless, world of “I know something you don’t know.”

Wow. The ultimate hypocrisy. But not a first. Pick a topic, any topic, and you’ll see we have always been King of the Hill, Top of the Heap, A number 1, in the ancient art of hypocricy.

America is even better at it than religions. Well, maybe I’m getting carried away.

From today’s London Guardian:  “5.30pm: With perfect timing an email arrives from Philip Crowley at the state department:

The United States is pleased to announce that it will host Unesco’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011, from 1-3 May in Washington, DC.

Ironic? Read the next paragraph from the press release:

The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and
innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.

Shameless. You really could not make it up.”