ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the Secrecy law and its problems in the United States and legal bases for American secrecy. US has kept secrets since the Revolutionary War. George Washington maintained a spy ring that operated behind British lines and used rudimentary cryptography and invisible ink. Secrets protected by statute or under the national security classification system, a number of categories of 'sensitive but unclassified information' (SBU) have developed. The chapter also covers the judicial doctrine which has found new life under the Bush and Obama administrations. While some level of secrecy is unavoidable for a modern nation-state, official secrecy presents a number of challenges for democracy and the rule of law. This chapter conclude that Some use of secrecy is a state imperative, even for democratic states that rely on a level of citizen engagement with public policy for their legitimacy.
