Ted Kennedy Quotes

The American people do not have the information upon which they can hold the administration and responsible agencies accountable. I call that a coverup.

Had the investigation been left to the government, the current administration would have concealed its own mistakes and blamed its predecessors, That is not a criticism of the Bush White House. Any administration would do the same.

One of the reasons the American public holds unelected government officials in such low esteem is that they are never held accountable for their failures.

Whether I'm trying to figure out what the U.S. military is doing in Latin America or Africa, Afghanistan or Qatar, the response is remarkably uniform - obstruction and obfuscation, hurdles and hindrances. In short, the good old-fashioned military runaround.

Our public officials have forgotten that they are ultimately accountable to the people who put them in office, that the information they keep in secrecy belongs to all of us.

Public trust in both government and corporations is low, and deservedly so.

The government itself is — and should be — accountable when its officials run amok.

When the Vice President of the United States shoots somebody, the public has the right to know.

Is there any way we can know that claims of state secrecy are in fact being used to protect the national security rather than to conceal the abuse of authority?

Impeachment of the Chief Executive is essential to avoid political assassination when the Executive has rendered himself obnoxious

What we've seen in government for so often is that people have been shady - about their roles, hiding things, not releasing things.

Americans can tolerate some secrecy, particularly when it is rooted in protection of the public's interests. But when the claims appear to hide wrongdoing, they begin to curdle.

Bradley Manning should be regarded as a hero. He is doing what an honest, decent citizen should be doing: letting your population know what the government, the people who rule you are doing. They want to keep it secret of course.

Our public officials have forgotten that they are ultimately accountable to the people who put them in office, that the information they keep in secrecy belongs to all of us. Julian Assange took a courageous step by rightfully returning what belongs to the public domain. For that reason, I believe we need to stand behind him.

We should never forget the government should be held accountable for providing services.

The accountability of government has gone to the point where the very use of the law is the instrument of illegality.

Secrecy is the linchpin of abuse of power, . . . its enabling force. Transparency is the only real antidote.

Secrecy destroys accountability.

The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people.

I'm sick and tired of government ministers in this Labour government who simply blame other people when things go wrong.

Some people prefer the passenger role, because it imposes no real pressure to decide or stand accountable for their life results.

The government would assert that individuals who are aware of serious wrongdoing in the intelligence community should bring their concerns to the people most responsible for that wrongdoing, and rely on those people to correct the problems that those people themselves authorized.

As long as the government's actions are secret, it cannot be held accountable. A government for the people and by the people should be transparent to the people.

The Australian people expect the Government to govern, they don't expect it to make excuses.

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.