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Especially since 1947 and the initiation of the Cold War by Truman, military planners have justified increasing levels of government secrecy under the nebulous title of "national security." Civil Libertarians who rankled at this claim have routinely had their patriotism questioned, a tactic favored by Nazi Propagandist Joseph Goebbels. The tactic seems to work. Fewer people complain about government secrecy as larger parts of our government become covert.

Looking back over the fifty-odd years of my life, I have trouble perceiving the threat from which secret military activity has secured me. What could justify millions of lives, trillions of dollars, and loss of democracy that has happened in this time period? Did Korea or Vietnam ever actually threaten the US? Grenada and Panama certainly didn't. I don't know who orchestrated 9-11, but they weren't Afghans and certainly not Iraqis.

Franklin told us those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither and that is what we're getting. Supposed threats grow more shadowy and hard to pin down as we surrender our protected rights to a government grown beyond reason. I find it increasingly easy to believe that those who benefit from the security state are behind every threat we face.

Theoretically, we live in a democracy, or at least a representative republic. Either way, the separation of powers is crucial to our system. Congress makes the laws and the executive carries them out, right? How can this power structure be maintained if the executive gets to decide what information the legislature is allowed to know?

As far as I can tell, the security status of Congress is a topic only debated behind closed doors. Some Members of Congress do get some briefings on classified material, but apparently some information is commonly withheld from most Members of Congress. At least one informed source is claiming that only eight Members of Congress have full security clearance. You and I aren't allowed even to know who is allowed to know what. The orders themselves are classified.

When the majority of our representatives to the legislature we entrust with the budget are not allowed to see the details of much of their spending, we've got a problem. We the people don't even know for sure how much money they spend on secret programs, even though the Constitution requires that federal accounting be published. It is certainly in the tens of Billions of our dollars.

Why do the good people we elect to Congress allow this preposterous

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