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Yvette Ruiz
Lynn Taylor
English 1010
27 April 2016

Government Secrecy: What We Can Know

The people of America are no strangers to doubting its governments actions. Since
America became independent from British rule in 1776, the people made sure that our new
government would not have total control over what we did. That we, as a people are going to be
involved in controlling whats right for the country. As the centuries went on, the government has
slowly been obtaining more secrecy and have taken into their own hands on what the public gets
to know and not know. The controversy on what exactly the government is hiding from us has
only gotten worse as the years drag by and the people want answers. But answers for what
exactly? Americans need to stop thinking as individuals and take into consideration the thought
of national security.
National security has become more of a serious issue in the United States since 9/11, but
the debate over secrecy versus security had been argued for decades. After the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) was signed into effect in 1966, it is easy to tell why citizens immediately
began to doubt the government. Literally after fighting for more knowledge of the governments
doings, the act managed to seclude asking about anything in regards to Congress, federal courts

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and offices that were directly under the President. To add to the list, the act has 9 solid
restrictions; one of them asking about secrets of national security. Publicists and other citizens
were restricted to only requesting information about agencies assigned to the executive brank. It
sounds illogical though, for an average American citizen to get their hands on the formula on
how to make atomic bomb or the United States war strategies. Simply because it is taken as a
precaution since there is no knowing where that information can lead or to who it can make its
way to.
Considering the fact that there are such organizations, such as the American Civil
Liberties Union, that dedicate time into making sure that situations (court cases, protests, etc.)
arent violating the peoples rights, it tickles the brain and asks the important question: why? The
thought that the people would always be involved in decisions regarding the nation and its
security is continuously decaying. It has gotten to a point where citizens have become so
doubtful in their government that they have formed organizations to stand up for themselves.
From wondering where their hard-earned tax dollars go to the suspicion that national security is
no longer security, but is now spying, are topics that raise various red flags. Organizations like
the ACLU have become dedicated to standing up to these so called conspiracies but when is
the line drawn before they can actually begin to doubt the government? Of course, every
American wants to know exactly where and what their money is exactly being used for. Acts like
the FOIA is exactly what limits citizens from knowing information. Restrictions such as this one
are what lead to 75% of the nations citizens into believing that the government is corrupt.
Another reason that happens to add fuel to the fire is that fact that an everyday American
will see videos on Facebook or literally in person, of what they believe to be local, state and
federal authorities violating the rights of Americans on a daily basis. How can citizens really

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confide in those who are superior to them when those superiors are breaking the law themselves?
It not only makes them feel intimidated or helpless but it also makes things worse when it comes
to foreign enemies. Nonetheless, it is assumed that politicians take the oath to defend the
Constitution; foreign and domestic.
Americans seem to fail at is distinguishing the difference between that of government and
politics. The individuals in the government are there simply because they were most likely voted
into those positions. Theres a good amount of them that are in Congress or the House for that
reason. Each state votes for their representative that will be the one to voice their opinions. Now,
of course, it is majority wins so there are cases where that argument is invalid because obviously,
a republican most likely wont vote a democrat into office. The main separation should be
understanding the difference of the two ideas. Although government and politics are both based
on a system of controlling a country or state, the government is the body of people itself and
politics refers to the process in which a group of appointed leaders as well as the people of the
state make a collective decision on various issues in the country. So then the question changes; is
it the government thats corrupt or politicians?
Citizens have the right to doubt and they also have the right to be entitled to whatever
they believe in. They can choose to believe that the government is corrupt but when it comes
down to national security, it should be necessary that politicians that are in government
determine what is safe. People can easily remember the situation of 9/11. The incident was
forever engraved in Americas history and after the horrific events occurred, airport security
immediately skyrocketed but so did the strategies that were intended to prevent such a thing from
occurring also increased. After the incident, the Department of Homeland Security was created to

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ensure the safety and prevention of terrorists attacks. The people cannot forget that they are
entitled to ask about the doings of this department since it will not be denied by the FOIA.
In all reality, it does really depend on where your stance is. Every person will have their
own opinion on the actions of the government, but most people will answer that they have some
sort of doubt with politicians that work for it. Most people will say that they have the right to
know but it is not necessary that they absolutely have to know what is occurring being the walls
of federal buildings. The government should have the power of hiding top secret files from its
people but mostly if it were to threaten the safety of the average citizen. Other things such as,
government spending, however, is a different story. In modern day America, it is hard to ask the
government for any type of answers, but national security ones shouldnt be one of them.