Interview in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists about his new book đź“š Restricted Data. A thoughtful, nuanced discussion. Here are just a few:
You learn that most of what they’re redacting is really boring.
Explicit information—information you can write down—by itself is rarely sufficient for these kinds of technologies. …That isn’t saying the secrets are worthless, but it is saying that they’re probably much lower value than our system believes them to be.
Once you peel back the layer of secrecy—even in the Eisenhower years—you don’t find a bunch of angry malcontented bureaucrats on the other side. You find rich discussions about what should and shouldn’t be released. You find differences of opinion, …
I was also surprised that so many aspects of the system that we’ve come to take for granted are really determined by a tiny number of people—maybe six or seven people.
HTT Bob Horn