A Matter of National Security
The ACLU is suing the US Justice Department over the Patriot Act. No one knows exactly what the lawsuit is about because the Justice Department will not allow the ACLU’s filings to be publicly disclosed and has banned the ACLU from discussing the details. The portions of the filing that have been disclosed have been heavily redacted (blacked out as to be unreadable.)
Now, to me the whole idea that the government has the right to ban the disclosure of the public challenge from a non-governmental source to the constitutionality of federal law strikes me as profoundly anti-American. However, the Justice department has steadfastly insisted this secrecy is needed for reasons of National Security. (As is explaining exactly why they are a threat to national security.)
When the Justice Department tried to redact a quotation from a Supreme Count decision, however, that particular redaction was overtured. The passage in question was
“The danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect ‘domestic security.’ Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent.”
Orwell and Vonnegut together could not have come up with something this absurd.
The government is abusing its power to classify information to classify information warning of the danger of government abusing its power to classify information.
More information here