Too Many Secrets

by Ruth A. Sheets

Anyone who has been charged with keeping a secret knows that one secret often begets more secrets as well as a plethora of lies.  It is essential to remember who knows and who should never know, is a cover story necessary, what happens if someone becomes suspicious.

My family is really big for keeping secrets.  The excuse most often given is, “I knew what you would say and . . .”  The second most common response, “I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.”

The secret keepers feel smug that they got the word and had the privilege/honor of keeping information from everyone else.  This implies that somehow, that makes for more trust.   In addition to whatever other roles the family member already has, this gives them the role of official secret keeper.  The person can now gloat when the secret comes out, “ I knew that two years (or whatever time period) ago.  If someone else learns the secret, the secret keeper can become extremely angry, sometimes feigned, sometimes real.  And, it doesn’t matter who might be affected by the secrets, how much pain is inflicted.

Over time, it becomes harder to discern the truth from lies used to maintain the secret.  Once the holding of secrets has worked, it makes more secrecy inevitable.  This process can undermine a family.  

The current happenings related to the NSA (National Security Agency) remind me of this sort of family secret keeping.  Some secrecy makes sense when the family is as large as the United States of America.  We don’t want everything we know out there for everyone to know.  Keep in mind the old cliche “forewarned is forearmed.” 

The problem in the US family, there are too many secrets about too many things.  No longer are our secrets confined to a limited number of people in a limited number of agencies.  It seems that whatever the military does is secret unless special dispensation is given.  That is also true of the State Department, the CIA, the FBI, Homeland Security, and so on and so forth.  These agencies and departments can know anything they deem important about us, the citizens, but we are to know as little as possible about them and their work.

Edward Snowden, self-professed whistle-blower, contracted NSA employee, let out a few secrets, none of which are either earth-shattering or worthy of the outrage of those whose self-esteem is wrapped up in keeping them.  Despite this, Mr. Snowden is being hounded and charged with espionage and other crimes which could lead to his torture or death at the hands of other secret-keepers.  The insidious part is that many among us don’t even recognize these practices as un-American.

Bradley Manning, another American who got sick of the secrets has spent 3 years in custody under conditions no American should suffer. 

The secret-keepers want everyone to believe that everything they hide is of utmost importance and only they have the wherewithall to protect it. 

I may not approve of the self-serving arrogance of Julian Isange of Wikileaks and Edward Snowden formerly of the NSA, but they have performed a service for all Americans.  They have pointed the spotlight at the insanity of our secret-keeping and at least, for awhile, we are talking about it.  The problem is not really with the whistle-blowers.  It is with the large number of government employees charged with keeping so many secrets from the rest of America.  When the government blames the whistle-blowers, it takes our attention from the real problem and allows the grip to be tighten on secrecy.  The media helps by repeating the position of the secret-keepers – “We need this to be secret or we won’t be able to protect Americans from terrorists.” 

We do need some secrecy related to our security, but that must be very limited and conducted within the law and our Constitution.  If information about our phone-calling and emailing are required, ask us and tell us why.  Stop the secret courts, the illegal requests for information from the businesses we have trusted with our data. 

A healthy, happy family has a minimum of secrets.  I want to see our nation happy and healthy, so let’s drop the feigned outrage that we citizens now know a few more things we should have known all along.