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Presidents' Secrets: The Use and Abuse of Hidden Power
Ever since the nation s most important secret meeting the Constitutional Convention presidents have struggled to balance open, accountable government with necessary secrecy in military affairs and negotiations. For the first one hundred and twenty years, a culture of open government persisted, but new threats and technology have long since shattered the old bargains. Today, presidents neither protect vital information nor provide the open debate Americans expect.
Mary Graham tracks the rise in governmental secrecy that began with surveillance and loyalty programs during Woodrow Wilson s administration, explores how it developed during the Cold War, and analyzes efforts to reform the secrecy apparatus and restore oversight in the 1970s. Chronicling the expansion of presidential secrecy in the Bush years, Graham explains what presidents and the American people can learn from earlier crises, why the attempts of Congress to rein in stealth activities don t work, and why presidents cannot hide actions that affect citizens rights and values
Mary Graham tracks the rise in governmental secrecy that began with surveillance and loyalty programs during Woodrow Wilson s administration, explores how it developed during the Cold War, and analyzes efforts to reform the secrecy apparatus and restore oversight in the 1970s. Chronicling the expansion of presidential secrecy in the Bush years, Graham explains what presidents and the American people can learn from earlier crises, why the attempts of Congress to rein in stealth activities don t work, and why presidents cannot hide actions that affect citizens rights and values
272 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 6, 2018
This book falls flat on its face when it gets to its little lead-in to Bush. You have an entire book of "So heres a few things that presidents have done", so that each successive revelation of US Presidential secrets gives the public a more specific idea of what they expect from government. Then you argue that the people have this specific idea of what the government is up to, and leave heavily implied that this is, more or less, an accurate impression. Now admit that Bush kept secrets and maybe it would have been more effective to be able to vaguely kind of sort of discuss them, and praise Obama for doing so.
Never-mind that they're war criminals. Never-mind that Wilson unleashed a propaganda machine everyone from FDR to Hitler would copy. No, what matters is that terrorists are the evil, evil blight of the world and the almighty United States' people need to quake in their boots, but it's all right Mr. Marine will make the bad guys go away, so long as you acquiesce. You know what Bush, Hitler and Putin all have in common? They revoked what we call the 4th amendment following a terrorist attack that lots of people think they either did themselves, or did not prevent. Tho, only Putin has the preponderance of evidence suggesting he actually did it. It doesn't matter who burned the building down, or blew it up, or flew a plane into it - it matters that for the sake of a crime that can only possibly be dealt with as a crime, we put ourselves under the military police and the stazi.
The author isn't just disingenuous -- this is overt propaganda from someone who's actually working as a propagandist thru the Harvard Kennedy School under the Orwellian title of the Transparency Policy Project.
Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump are all traitors to the American People (they served the American Government just as they were supposed to) and war criminals. They have caused incalculable harm to our Constitution, our safety, our freedom, and our Nation and its reputation. And not least, they have done damage to the entire world in these things, as we are the global empire. We are the rogue state, the terrorist mastermind of the world, and the CIA makes Al Qaeda look like childsplay (and incidentally, created them, deliberately).
Also -- seriously, how the hell do you write about presidential secrets and not talk about Israel?
This one's going into the fire.
For the record. I have no idea whatever if this is actually some Wilsonian consent manufacturing thing or whatever, almost nothing really is these days -- the universities and media have been totally cognitively or monetarily captured at this point. Fox news doesn't tell people to write, they hire people who will always write what they would have been told to. That way the writer is legitimately acting of the their own free will -- the message is still passing thru a censor tho, and it's still propaganda, which is really just another way of saying advocacy. Where I draw the line is advocating with a blatant disregard for reality. This book talks about whether or not a discussion, that would always result in the same outcome if only by a different method, is warranted and says yes. I say that war crimes and wars of aggression are inherently evil -- just as the US did at Nuremberg and Tokyo before it murdered a hell of a lot of people for being war criminals. There is no discussing whether or not torture is effective -- any man that signs an order for, or carries out a torture should be hanged a traitor to this country. Period. And that was the official Washington position for 70 years, despite ignoring it, right up until they got caught having it legalized, because Cheney was more concerned about covering his own ass than the government itself -- or because the intelligence community really wouldn't go along without that legal framework, it really doesn't matter which one of them is responsible for that specific part of the farce. Before that tho, it was at least on paper not what we do. That's why Ollie North went down.
This is also why the "Rule of Law" is not the almighty height of morality every pretends it is -- laws can be, and frequently are, evil. Most everyone says "MArtin Luther King Jr., now that's how you change the world." "You mean by breaking the law?" "No, Law and Order are inviolable." "But you just said" "Shut the fuck up and be grateful we pretended to stop being racist to put a stop to the unrest and all the countries abroad making fun of us for being no better than Hitler."
So -- heartily, %#@$ this book.
Never-mind that they're war criminals. Never-mind that Wilson unleashed a propaganda machine everyone from FDR to Hitler would copy. No, what matters is that terrorists are the evil, evil blight of the world and the almighty United States' people need to quake in their boots, but it's all right Mr. Marine will make the bad guys go away, so long as you acquiesce. You know what Bush, Hitler and Putin all have in common? They revoked what we call the 4th amendment following a terrorist attack that lots of people think they either did themselves, or did not prevent. Tho, only Putin has the preponderance of evidence suggesting he actually did it. It doesn't matter who burned the building down, or blew it up, or flew a plane into it - it matters that for the sake of a crime that can only possibly be dealt with as a crime, we put ourselves under the military police and the stazi.
The author isn't just disingenuous -- this is overt propaganda from someone who's actually working as a propagandist thru the Harvard Kennedy School under the Orwellian title of the Transparency Policy Project.
Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump are all traitors to the American People (they served the American Government just as they were supposed to) and war criminals. They have caused incalculable harm to our Constitution, our safety, our freedom, and our Nation and its reputation. And not least, they have done damage to the entire world in these things, as we are the global empire. We are the rogue state, the terrorist mastermind of the world, and the CIA makes Al Qaeda look like childsplay (and incidentally, created them, deliberately).
Also -- seriously, how the hell do you write about presidential secrets and not talk about Israel?
This one's going into the fire.
For the record. I have no idea whatever if this is actually some Wilsonian consent manufacturing thing or whatever, almost nothing really is these days -- the universities and media have been totally cognitively or monetarily captured at this point. Fox news doesn't tell people to write, they hire people who will always write what they would have been told to. That way the writer is legitimately acting of the their own free will -- the message is still passing thru a censor tho, and it's still propaganda, which is really just another way of saying advocacy. Where I draw the line is advocating with a blatant disregard for reality. This book talks about whether or not a discussion, that would always result in the same outcome if only by a different method, is warranted and says yes. I say that war crimes and wars of aggression are inherently evil -- just as the US did at Nuremberg and Tokyo before it murdered a hell of a lot of people for being war criminals. There is no discussing whether or not torture is effective -- any man that signs an order for, or carries out a torture should be hanged a traitor to this country. Period. And that was the official Washington position for 70 years, despite ignoring it, right up until they got caught having it legalized, because Cheney was more concerned about covering his own ass than the government itself -- or because the intelligence community really wouldn't go along without that legal framework, it really doesn't matter which one of them is responsible for that specific part of the farce. Before that tho, it was at least on paper not what we do. That's why Ollie North went down.
This is also why the "Rule of Law" is not the almighty height of morality every pretends it is -- laws can be, and frequently are, evil. Most everyone says "MArtin Luther King Jr., now that's how you change the world." "You mean by breaking the law?" "No, Law and Order are inviolable." "But you just said" "Shut the fuck up and be grateful we pretended to stop being racist to put a stop to the unrest and all the countries abroad making fun of us for being no better than Hitler."
So -- heartily, %#@$ this book.
August 18, 2017
Mary Graham’s Presidents' Secrets: The Use and Abuse of Hidden Power investigates the history of secrecy in the United States from the drafting of the constitution to the present day. The secrecy surrounding the drafting of what became the United States constitution was a mixed bag: it allowed the delegates to engage in frank discussion but also provided openings for misinformation and could very well have destroyed the U.S. had the delegates and nature of the secretive process leaked out prematurely.
The presidency of Woodrow Wilson laid the groundwork for many of the current controversies of today. The passage of the Espionage and Sedition Acts created broad-sweeping powers that undermined many of the freedoms many of us taken for granted. Furthermore, Wilson suffered an incapacitating stroke but this was kept secret from the public—in addition to not wanting to create chaos there was no formal process for handling a president being no longer able to fulfill their duties.
President Harry Truman also had a major influence in shaping the controversies that remain in the present. He signed off on intelligence networks that operated largely without oversight and regularly invoked national security to keep a number of operations secret. Like most of his predecessors, President Lyndon Johnson attempted to stretch secrecy to limits; however, he faced a backlash including the passage of the Freedom of Information Act
President George W. Bush also invoked secrecy in to cover his action in response in 9/11; however, he faced a backlash to both the Patriot Act and his policies for handling detainees. Secrecy also came back to haunt him in the lead-up to the Iraq War. President Barack Obama came into office promising more openness and accountability; however, the results have not necessarily lived up the grand promises.
This book is an interesting read for anyone interested in the history of secrecy and the United States government, particularly the executive branch. The final legacies of President Bush and President Obama will probably not be settled for some time and although some progress has been made, there are a lot of issues surrounding secrecy that have yet to be sorted out. Furthermore, as this book makes clear the ever-evolving role of technology has created and entirely new set of issues that may not be sorted out in the foreseeable future.
The presidency of Woodrow Wilson laid the groundwork for many of the current controversies of today. The passage of the Espionage and Sedition Acts created broad-sweeping powers that undermined many of the freedoms many of us taken for granted. Furthermore, Wilson suffered an incapacitating stroke but this was kept secret from the public—in addition to not wanting to create chaos there was no formal process for handling a president being no longer able to fulfill their duties.
President Harry Truman also had a major influence in shaping the controversies that remain in the present. He signed off on intelligence networks that operated largely without oversight and regularly invoked national security to keep a number of operations secret. Like most of his predecessors, President Lyndon Johnson attempted to stretch secrecy to limits; however, he faced a backlash including the passage of the Freedom of Information Act
President George W. Bush also invoked secrecy in to cover his action in response in 9/11; however, he faced a backlash to both the Patriot Act and his policies for handling detainees. Secrecy also came back to haunt him in the lead-up to the Iraq War. President Barack Obama came into office promising more openness and accountability; however, the results have not necessarily lived up the grand promises.
This book is an interesting read for anyone interested in the history of secrecy and the United States government, particularly the executive branch. The final legacies of President Bush and President Obama will probably not be settled for some time and although some progress has been made, there are a lot of issues surrounding secrecy that have yet to be sorted out. Furthermore, as this book makes clear the ever-evolving role of technology has created and entirely new set of issues that may not be sorted out in the foreseeable future.
September 30, 2017
An interesting if somewhat spotty history of "the use and abuse of hidden power" (as the subtitle says) by the executive branch. It is always interesting to learn the precedents set by George Washington. He was quite concerned about striking the right balance between the presidency and Congress and between the executive branch and the people. As usual, President Washington's wisdom shines through.
The author documents several key turning points brought about by Presidents Wilson, Truman, Johnson (Lyndon, not Andrew), Ford, Bush 43, and Obama. I was expecting to see a Lincoln chapter, but maybe there wasn't that much revelatory to say about Lincoln with regard to this topic. Obama seems to have gotten easier treatment than Bush, as GWB was often mentioned in the Obama chapter, along the implied lines of "Obama did this, but he was just continuing to do what Bush did." Earlier in the book, Truman is praised (rightly) for integrating the armed services, but Wilson is not called out for segregating the armed forces. Trump isn't mentioned at all by name. The book seems to have been completed after the 2016 election, and Graham refers to Obama's successor a couple of times, but not by name. That seemed a little petty to me.
Minor quibbles aside, the book is interesting. It delivers on what the title promises. I came away with a better understanding of the history and thinking behind the creation and evolution of secret power structures like the CIA.
The author documents several key turning points brought about by Presidents Wilson, Truman, Johnson (Lyndon, not Andrew), Ford, Bush 43, and Obama. I was expecting to see a Lincoln chapter, but maybe there wasn't that much revelatory to say about Lincoln with regard to this topic. Obama seems to have gotten easier treatment than Bush, as GWB was often mentioned in the Obama chapter, along the implied lines of "Obama did this, but he was just continuing to do what Bush did." Earlier in the book, Truman is praised (rightly) for integrating the armed services, but Wilson is not called out for segregating the armed forces. Trump isn't mentioned at all by name. The book seems to have been completed after the 2016 election, and Graham refers to Obama's successor a couple of times, but not by name. That seemed a little petty to me.
Minor quibbles aside, the book is interesting. It delivers on what the title promises. I came away with a better understanding of the history and thinking behind the creation and evolution of secret power structures like the CIA.
June 30, 2020
A fascinating and scholarly account by Mary Graham, the co-director of the Transparency Project at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The book is a historical study of the conflict between necessary government secrecy and public accountability. . From the beginnings of America's constitution under George Washington, through the challenges of the Cold War, to the modern day digital world and the reaction of the USA to 9/11. Excellent read!
May 23, 2018
A thought provoking tour d'horizon with a compelling thesis, although a bit repetitious.
April 29, 2019
love the chapter on Woodrow Wilson. other chapter are also good.
November 8, 2021
50 pages, that's my rule. If a book doesn't interest me after 50 pages I quit reading. This was one of those times.
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May 26, 2017352.379 G7412 2017
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews