Max Frankel Quotes
Information that is gathered and managed in secret is a potent weapon – and the temptation to use it in political combat … can be irresistible.
Max Frankel, Editor-in-Chief, New York Times, June 23, 2013
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
In the Watergate hearings the White House did not want to make information public but offered to communicate it privately to the Senator, the committee chairman.
The FBI director had become so powerful and unchecked by Congress or the President he used the FBI to assemble files on those whom he wanted including political figures. On many occasions he used these for various forms of blackmail, never for money, but to solicit compliance or support or obtain silence or cessation of opposition to positions he favored—especially the prerogatives of the FBI.
This was one of the best confirmations that Nixon had authorized illegal activity to further his reelection prospects and then orchestrated a cover up of the crimes.
The main reason that the English or American Freedom of Information Act is not used so much by individuals is that the executive agencies make the process of obtaining documents very difficult and then when the government stonewalls, the requestor has to spend a great deal of time and often engage an attorney. The result is that few individuals can spend the time or money and the field consists mostly of media and non profit organizations which have staff and resources.
This quotation illustrates that government use of censorship and classification to cover up errors and mistakes in not just a modern phenomenon. It is a technique that government’s will gravitate to whenever they have the chance.
