by Khyati Dalal

Created on: July 08, 2009   Last Updated: July 21, 2009

No, government agencies should not be allowed to keep unclassified information secret.

During World War II, the Japanese sent "balloon bombs" to the United States. These bombs could be mistaken for just any ordinary balloon to anyone who did not know what they were. Even though these balloons mostly landed in secluded areas, there were times when adults or even children would stumble upon them and not knowing their danger, play with them and have it explode, causing lots of harm to the children.

This is one prime example of the dangers of keeping important information a secret from the inhabitants of the United States. Had the people known about this dangerous object, many would have taken precaution as to what they did with what they saw and where, and in turn, this would have saved lives. This is just one example, but I am sure that the more people know, the more careful they will try to be and therefore, be a lot safer.

Some people argue that telling the citizens would have just scared them more. However this might be the case, it would have also saved lives and that is a bigger accomplishment than causing fear. Additionally, being in the dark about something causes a lot more fear than knowing what actually happens because people can imagine loads of terrible situations in their heads, but if they have something concrete to fear, it's not as scary anymore.

Additionally, the government is basically the "ruler" of the people. The people have to fight wars on its behalf and vote and live with its decisions in national and international situations. Because of all these sacrifices, the nation has a right to know what is going on with the country, what the government is doing and how.

Also, the government basically forces people to pay ridiculous amounts of tax, and then uses all this money to do assignments or projects that the people are completely unaware of. This is completely unfair. Since the people give their money to the government, they derserve to know what that money is being used for.

The definition of "unclassified" is not designated as secret. Therefore, why should it be kept secret? The correct answer is, that it shouldn't. If the information is unclassified in the government, then it is completely unfair to keep the citizens in the dark about that subject.

So, overall, the government agencies have no right to keep unclassified information secret from the public.

Learn more about this author, Khyati Dalal.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.