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points by halJordan 2 days ago | 0 comments

A good faith answer to the question; classification hinges on damage done to the United States if it is released. So for example, a law might constraint or enforce the usage of a capability against an enemy, and this, of course would hang on some sort of spectrum also probably defined in law or in an agency interpretation. The agency interpretation is also probably classified and so as you start applying that spectrum, you enter gray areas and niches, and extremes, and so you have to ask a lawyer to disambiguate. And so this lawyer's interpretation is now the fulcrum on which employment of classified US capabilities is based. So therefore, teleologically this lawyer's interpretation has to be classified because it all goes back to whether public knowledge of this capability will damage the United States interest. if you know what the lawyer's interpretation is then you know the spectrum if you know the spectrum then you know the capability then you can damage the United States.

[–] lazide 2 days ago

The clear answer is that wrongdoing also needs to be ‘too big to fail’. Small, low impact shit will get you targeted.

Something so heinous it would make who-shot-Kennedy a forgotten footnote? Everyone is going to cover that up.

[–] xp84 1 day ago

There are a couple of people with sober takes on this article and you’re one of them. The rest seem to have decided long ago that the entire military is full of mustachio-twirling evildoers, and building their whole mental model of what’s going on with that as the foundation of it.

The facts of the matter are probably much closer to what you’re saying, but some people have become so radicalized (including those who got that way due to Trump-era buffoonery) that they can’t accept even the possibility that most of the actors are operating to protect our collective legitimate best interests.

Most of the people in government and the military are not political appointees, are not political hacks, and are doing tough and sometimes high-risk jobs, from a motivation other than evil. On the other hand, many politicians are motivated mainly by political partisanship and will do anything to try to score political points, including trying to cause outrage about what’s being kept secret, even if it’s been explained to them why it must remain secret.