As the information revolution continues to influence the development of global consciousness and public participation in affairs of state, the US government must find a more appropriate balance between vigorously protecting a limited field of state secrets and fostering a culture of public accountability, transparency and openness appropriate for a networked information age.

High levels of secrecy have become a national liability in the information age. With massive amounts of relevant information on most topics now available on the Internet and elsewhere, relevance does not come from hoarding information. Instead, it comes from developing and identifying appropriate filters to sort through masses of data, and by building relationships with those, often outside of government, who have the most immediate access to relevant information.

The US government must shed all but the most critical secrecy components of its post-War architecture and institutional culture if its foreign policy institutions are to maintain their relevance in a networked world.

Although extensive official secrecy was empowering when governments had more information than non-governmental actors, it now often amplifies intelligence shortfalls and prevents governments from partnering with and fully engaging non-state actors in open knowledge networks. In a networked information environment, we can learn more by developing close and cooperative links with the thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating throughout Africa, for example, than by relying on a small number of political and intelligence officers reporting from African capitals.

[ Reading this article, I couldn't help being reminded of Snow Crash, in which the US governement is pretty much completely marginalized and exists with a culture of extreme secrecy and strict monitoring, but accomplishes nothing. Meanwhile, the CIC hackers are essentially just guys who are good at getting and finding information, and they hold a fairly decent bit of power for precisely that reason.

Anyway, there's something to be said for what they're proposing, though I haven't really got the initiative to fully reason out the implications. -k]