32 Quotes by Steven Aftergood

Secrecy has become a growth industry. It makes it harder for ordinary citizens ... to ask questions ... and to hold officials accountable.

Secrecy seems to be the default here. It appears the judge wants to discourage media coverage.

Some categories of classified information are protected by statute and not only by executive order. Intelligence sources and methods are protected by the National Security Act and cannot be declassified even by the say-so of the president.

No one is suggesting the NSA is monitoring Hillary Clinton.

If the FBI can persuade a court that there is probable cause that there are stolen records in that collection, then they should go to court. They cannot bully or attempt to intimidate the family or the university into surrendering private records.

I think it's driven by the individual agencies, which have bureaucratic sensitivities to protect. But it was clearly encouraged by the administration's overall embrace of secrecy.

It is ironic, ... We sued the C.I.A. four times for this kind of information and lost. You can't get it through legal channels.

I think there will be problems and cases where employees are tripped up by the tests, ... But the bureau as a whole will adapt.

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.