Researchers conducting investigations in the U.S. archives are aware of the immense scale of documents. Thanks to the ongoing and significant endeavor to declassify information in conjunction with the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, new information arose about the U.S. role in coups worldwide. Matthew Connelly’s study, The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals about America’s Top Secrets, explores the intricacies of how this procedure is executed with delicate balances.
As a scholar specializing in international and global history, Connelly addresses the government’s practice of concealing information and the substantial financial resources allocated to document storage. In addition, he discusses the obstacles associated with the process of declassifying documents and the specific categories of information that are deliberately concealed from public knowledge. The book has become even more pertinent in light of recent news stories regarding presidents and other individuals who have stored classified government documents in their personal residences.
A project to categorize secret data by analyzing declassified documents is described. The use of machine learning to determine the U.S. government’s goals and methods for information concealment is noteworthy. Since government archives contain an abundance of data, manual inspection is time-consuming and wasteful; therefore, machine learning presents an alternative. He found that many ‘top-secret’ records are labeled for legitimate purposes, while others were classified to hide flaws.
Connelly began his research by applying for a grant to work with Columbia University data scientists. A substantial quantity of data was collected and organized before commencing this complex declassification operation. Legal assistance was also sought to reduce the risk of Espionage Act violations. This foundation insured that the project would increase declassification and keep democratic responsibility within legal boundaries. The ten-chapter book uses declassified documents.
Roosevelt’s employing economic limitations and tensions to force Japan’s hand is notable. Incendiary U.S. actions that drive Japan to war are also crucial. The Pearl Harbor attack was unexpected due to intelligence gaps, poor information sharing, and misreading signs. Thus, the Pearl Harbor attack demonstrates how U.S. officials classify information to hide incompetence or strategic mistakes. The potential use of such occurrences to justify more monitoring and military spending is also considered. After the Second World War, the military advocated investing in complicated and classified technologies to deter unforeseen attacks. According to the book, this generated the “dark state,” a vast and hidden network of intelligence and defense organizations that conducts domestic and international espionage and surveillance to preserve national security (p. 6).
The subsequent section discusses nuclear weapons secrecy, specifically atomic bomb data classification and protection. The strict regulation of classified information, especially nuclear weapons, and the dire consequences for unauthorized disclosure are also noted. Exploring the Manhattan Project (p. 63) highlights President Franklin Roosevelt’s commitment to secrecy and the “dark state’s” genesis. Secrecy helped win the Second World War and concentrate power among a few elites. However, the secrecy mechanism, meant to protect important information, also allowed spies in, the book reveals.
Following that, the author discusses cryptography’s history in intelligence and military operations, the challenges of secrecy and how crucial it is to national security. The National Security Agency (NSA) was vulnerable to Soviet infiltration during its headquarters move (p. 138). Thus, security flaws, NSA moles, and the dangers associated with the marines are highlighted. The downsides of excessive secrecy, difficulty of human security checks, and the benefits of unintended disclosure suggest that national security requires a balance.
The clandestine nature of the codes necessary for the activation of nuclear weapons and the historical circumstances under which protective measures were put in place are also examined. The veil of secrecy surrounding nuclear weapons, particularly the permission code, is demonstrated to have obscured perilous practices. The author thereafter highlights the wider concern of civil-military relations and the conflicts of authority between civilian and military entities.
Connelly subsequently shifts to the Korean War, uncovering the escalating power struggle and the military’s sway over strategic choices. Specifically, Douglas MacArthur, in his role as the commander-in-chief in the Far East, openly challenged Truman’s authority and advocated for a more extensive confrontation with China. The complex dynamics of civilmilitary relations, the blurred lines between military and civilian authority, and the use of secrecy to manipulate public perception and policy decisions are underscored.
Government surveillance and espionage are discussed in the following chapter. J. Edgar Hoover’s manipulation of American politics and attempts to undermine Martin Luther King, Jr. demonstrate how secrecy in surveillance supported politically motivated goals. How Hoover’s FBI wiretapped politicians and gathered incriminating information for blackmail and political positioning are described.
Numerous instances where concealing military research and experiments has had negative effects are put forward. The author examines the pros and pitfalls of national security confidentiality, disinformation, missile defense deception, CIA misinformation, and unethical human trials. He also analyzes government- funded military activities including cloud-seeding to alter weather, defoliating the Vietnamese countryside, and irradiating the high sky. Secrecy hampers science and breeds public cynicism, the chapter concludes.
Emphasizing the close connections between influential government and business figures, the subsequent chapter expresses concern regarding the impact of corporate elites on foreign policy decisions. William Pawley, a prosperous entrepreneur personified in the passage, maintained an engaging persona at his diverse estates while projecting an image similar to that of a swashbuckling figure adorned in a gray flannel suit before presidents and film stars. Nevertheless, Pawley supervised covert operations for decades, during which time he played a role in the Guatemalan coup and Cuban events.
Connelly illustrates how presidents balance secrecy and transparency as they share information to advance their personal goals. He also discusses Carter’s limited influence on declassification, Reagan’s executive order that prioritized disciplinary measures for failing to safeguard classified information (p. 306), Obama’s rigorous prosecution of leaks despite assurances of transparency (p. 307), and Trump’s paradoxical stance of presiding over a leaky administration while asserting that all his statements were highly classified. As classified material grows, the chapter concludes that the Biden Administration has not prioritized transparency.
The author indicates the secrecy and confidentiality of classified information and the strict rules and measures used to manage it. He also implies that not all classified data is intelligent or significant by referencing the system’s flaws and limitations. Using the CIA as an example, the author examines intelligence agency shortcomings. He believes officials’ information classification accuracy is inconsistent. This raises the possibility of using machine learning technology to improve data management accountability and precision by using a risk-management-oriented, logical classification method.
The final chapter highlights the persistent challenges historical archives and government record safeguarding confront. Lack of finance, mismanagement, and neglect are issues for institutions like the National Archives. Archivists encounter several obstacles when handling a lot of electronic records, including insufficient staff, outdated equipment, and the inability to preserve them. Artificial intelligence may be used in automated archival appraisal, however valuable historical documents and historical context must be considered.
A gripping book, The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals About America’s Top Secrets will appeal to anyone with a curiosity in American politics, government and archives as well as the declassification of any kind. However, the author can be subject to criticism on two specific aspects: First, the book is generally intriguing but gives the impression of being a mere accumulation of information. Likewise, it is evident that some sections include a significant amount of repetition. Furthermore, Connelly is highly concerned about the preservation of freedom of information. Nevertheless, there is one aspect that he struggles to acknowledge: certain material may be exceedingly sensitive to the extent that it does not serve the public’s interest for it to be released. Hence, classification is occasionally essential and it is unjust to completely denigrate it.
