I think there is enormous understanding and tolerance for an argument from necessity, and there's willingness to retroactively forgive what might strictly speaking be violations of the law.
More Quotes from Steven Aftergood:
This illustrates the principle that unchecked authority goes astray. In this case, it's a relatively trivial infraction. But to me the point is that we need more aggressive and penetrating oversight than we have.Steven Aftergood
It's a bit of a compromise, ... There is a cultural resistance to the polygraph that is different at the FBI than at the CIA. A polygraph is something that is given to new employees and suspected criminals, not to employees in good standing.
Steven Aftergood
This whole activity was effectively concealed. It's baffling. It's basically a covert action taking place at the National Archives.
Steven Aftergood
Secrecy has become a growth industry. It makes it harder for ordinary citizens ... to ask questions ... and to hold officials accountable.
Steven Aftergood
So somehow the notion that the U.S. had conducted a nuke test in Sudan had gotten into the news food chain and had triggered alarms on the part of the Sudanese government,
Steven Aftergood
As a society we seem to be losing our ability to rationally debate complicated policy decisions. Secrecy aggravates the problem by excluding people from the debate, or by narrowing their frames of reference. Nothing less than the future of American democracy is at stake.
Steven Aftergood
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Based on Topics: Arguments Quotes, Law & Regulation Quotes, Necessity QuotesBased on Keywords: retroactively
In true education, anything that comes to our hand is as good as a book: the prank of a page- boy, the blunder of a servant, a bit of table talk - they are all part of the curriculum.
Michel de Montaigne
I like the fact you can spend two hours setting up a scene that will only last a couple of seconds. And I like just sitting around and dozing between scenes!
Mackenzie Crook
We win by tenderness. We conquer by forgiveness.
Frederick William Robertson