Posted by L2L on March 07, 2014 at 18:44:10:
In Reply to: Re: The book Operation Paperclip posted by JimHK on March 07, 2014 at 12:48:10:
You hit the nail on the head, Jim. Doing government in secret is not supposed to happen in a democracy. When government agencies are allowed to operate in secrecy, this is what happens. Thank goodness for reporters like Annie Jacobsen, but part of her book is about how hard it was for her to get ANY information about operation paperclip, even after sixty years. The Obama administration is continuing the long trend toward doing more and more government in secret. The current administration is more likely to file charges against reporters who reveal this kind of thing than any previous administration in US history.
: Yes, it's an incredible story. The idea that the program was kept secret from the President of the United States tells us what these agencies are capable of. The problem is they operate in secret. And as you suggest, I'm sure they are doing such things today in the name of "the war on terror."
: : Anybody here read Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America by Annie Jacobsen. It describes how the CIA brought Nazi scientists to the US after WWII and got them US citizenship so they could help us work against Russia. Some of the scientists had been convicted of war crimes, but their records were "sanitized" to make sure no one (including the president of the United States) would find out about their pasts. Fascinating what the CIA can justify in the name of "war effort." Makes you wonder what they are up to right now (that we will only find out about in fifty years).