The Pentagon Papers case stands today as a barrier to silence by official edict.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
In the Pentagon Papers case, the government asserted in the Supreme Court that the publication of the material was a threat to national security. It turned out it was not a threat to U.S. security. But even if it had been, that doesn't mean that it couldn't be published.
After the chaos and carnage of September 11th, it is not enough to serve our enemies with legal papers.
I would say that the Pentagon Papers case of 1971 - in which the government tried to block the The New York Times and The Washington Post that they obtained from a secret study of how we got involved in the war in Vietnam - that is probably the most important case.
The Pentagon today will not allow any of these people who work for the Pentagon, to talk to the media. They have gagged them from talking to members of Congress.
Silence is argument carried out by other means.
There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
Laws are silent in time of war.
History shows how feeble are barriers of paper.
There should be at least one leak like the Pentagon Papers every year.
The days of the Pentagon Papers debates seem long past, when a sudden transparency yielded insight into fights over war and peace and freedom and security; the transparency afforded by Twitter and Facebook yields insights that extend no further than a lawmaker's boundless narcissism and a culture's pitiless prurience.