Policy, Ethics And Accountability Series
Co-sponsored by the School of Information Sciences and the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership, University of Pittsburgh
This series is free and open to the public.
February 4, 2008
Steven Aftergood
"The Challenge of Government Security" [ video ]
Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Mr. Aftergood specializes in national information security and policy. His
presentation will discuss how many of the most important controversies
of our time, from the conduct of domestic surveillance to the detention
and interrogation of suspected enemy combatants, have revolved around government
secrecy. Secrecy may be needed to protect certain aspects of national
security, but it can also be used to shield incompetence or to evade accountability. This
talk will explain how secrecy is used and misused, and will explore how
several current issues illustrate the friction between the impulse to secrecy
and societal values such as freedom of the press, democratic decision-making
and government accountability.
Steven Aftergood is a senior research analyst at the Federation of American
Scientists (FAS) specializing in national security information and intelligence
policies. He directs the FAS Project on Government Secrecy, which
works to reduce the scope of official secrecy and to promote reform of
related security practices. The Federation of American Scientists,
founded in 1945 by Manhattan Project scientists, is a non-profit national
organization of scientists and engineers concerned with issues of science
and national security policy.