Naturally I have been watching the news about the Confidential and Top Secret documents stolen by tfg. If you watch any TV journalist interviewing a person involved in Trump’s treason, be on the lookout for the catch-22.
The journalist looks sweetly at the interviewee and finds an innocuous way to ask whether the contents of the documents are really that serious. The interviewee has to make a choice. Nobody who isn’t on the approved list is even allowed to look at the contents, so what is the proper answer?
If they say “No, the stuff that is in there doesn’t seem that serious to me,” they are admitting that they looked. Which means they are being asked to admit to the media that they themselves committed a felony crime. I was watching Judy Woodruff of PBS interview somebody the other day, and even Ms. Woodruff seemed unable to resist the urge to reach out for re-assurance that maybe this wasn’t so bad based on the content on these documents. Right now, the Qpublican members of the House Intelligence Committee are asking that the contents of the files be discussed in Congress. These guys are not known for their ability to respect the system, and if this gets discussed in the committee, you can guarantee that we will all eventually learn what exactly is in the documents, the exact opposite of the intent to keep the information secret.
We are dying to know what is in those files, but so are the Russians.
I had a discussion with a family member who was speculating as to whether we were selling the secrets of how to make an Atom Bomb. I told her that this has been public knowledge for decades (the main problem in building one is not the design, it is the lack of access to plutonium as well as the access to a set of timers). She then asked what other secrets could there be?
With only a little imagination, it is easy to list other items that could be nuclear secrets. Where the nuclear-equipped submarines happen to go when they are on patrol, for example. Nowadays it is common knowledge that the USA and Israel worked together to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program with “stutsnet.” how do we know they aren’t working on the next generation of that malware? (how do we know that the Russians aren’t working on it? or if we do know, what is the progress the Russians are making?) Maybe we have people in place that work at the nuclear programs of other countries who are passing along information. All these are just speculation, but they also count as “nuclear secrets.”
The act of discussing what the contents may be, in an effort to make sure everybody is on board, is irresistible to many persons, but leads to the exact opposite outcome of secrecy.
The rumors have gone around that in the first days of his Presidency, tfg told the Russians some names of spies working in the Kremlin but passing along info to the USA. Likewise, a rumor that Jared Kushner gave MBS the list of names of persons who were MBS’ political opponents compiled by the CIA. It may very well be that we are in a similar situation right now.
What happened to Adam and Eve when the decided to taste the forbidden fruit?
(hint: it didn’t go well)