Directive 119

It seems clear from the promulgation of Intelligence Community Directive 119 that U.S. secrecy has been wounded by the likes of Edward Snowden. It also seems to make clear that secrecy trumps transparency in a country whose politicians can trumpet transparency and whose citizens might claim to approve it.

I haven't got the energy to point out how the gag order called Directive 119 greases the skids of an increasingly authoritarian nation like the one I live in, but here is a blog post that does the work and leads with the words:

The nation’s top spy has prohibited all of his spies from talking with reporters about “intelligence-related information” unless officially authorized to speak. Intelligence Community Directive 119, signed by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper last month and made public Monday in a report by Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, threatens to reduce the flow of information from the national security establishment to the press — and hence the public.