(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)
The next few sentences you read may surprise, even shock, many of you. They are found on page 65 of Martin Gilbert’s Churchill and America:
On 10 May 1917, a month after the entry of the United States into the war, the House of Commons went into Secret Session. This procedure enabled Cabinet Ministers and critics of government policy to discuss the war without any newspaper coverage.Can you believe that? What was the Government thinking? Didn’t it realize there would be many members just itching for the session to end, so they could race out and “spill the beans” to their favorite press contacts?
No, the Government didn’t realize that because they knew that wouldn’t happen. It was considered treasonable in time of war for a member to disclose what went on during a Secret Session of the House. Even in peacetime, a Member who “leaked” from a Secret Session would be considered to have damaged not just the sitting Government, but the House itself.
During WW II Churchill took part in a number of Secret Sessions at which details of strategy and resources were discussed. Information from those sessions would have been invaluable to the Axis nations. But it didn't leak.
We live in a time now when a fair question is: Can any secret vital to America’s national security be kept?
The answer I’m very sorry to say is: Not if people like the NY Times’ Bill Keller or NBC’s Brian Williams decide it shouldn’t.
1 comments:
I must take exception to your conclusion, John. These people you named are merely the vehicles for the leaks. Just as in driving, you don't blame the vehicle for purposely running down pedestrians in a crosswalk. You blame the driver.
Ergo, the Congressmen, Senators, bureaucrats, that provide the leaked information are the main villians.
However, the people you did name while not the chief villians, are certainly complicit. In time of war, it is actually their duty to refuse to make public security secrets, and further to notify the proper authorities as to who betrayed the nation.
This is not a freedom of the press issue. This is a responsibility of citizenship issue.
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