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The problem with the US' secret files

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For half a century, conspiracy theories about the assassination of John F. Kennedy have flourished. But despite President Donald Trump officially declassifying the remaining JFK files this week, those theories may never be laid to rest. 

So far, the documents appear to be disorganized and hard to sift through, with some being entirely illegible because of a combination of age and bad photocopying. Some of the new insights include details on how the CIA wiretapped phones in Mexico City to surveil communications between the Soviets and Cubans. 

Still, the move is undoubtedly a good one, regardless of whether the remaining files will uncover anything meaningful. Not only can people no longer accuse the government of continuing to hide evidence of some sort of cover-up, but finally releasing these files helps set expectations for the government to be more transparent in the future. 

A more transparent government would be a return to form; it wasn’t until World War II that the US developed its current tendency toward secrecy. 

In previous wars, the government set up security agencies that kept sensitive information from public view, but those agencies and their practices were usually dismantled after wars ended. After World War II, the government left its wartime practices intact. The result was a sprawling security state that started keeping more and more secrets as time went on. Today, more than 50 million documents are classified each year.

Efforts to address the US government’s secrecy problem — like an Obama-era initiative to set deadlines for declassification — have struggled, and there are still an excessive number of files that are being classified today. One expert told the New York Times that only about 5 to 10 percent of the 50 million files merit classification.

And that suggests government agencies tend to err on the side of classifying something, even when it’s not really warranted. 

The problem with this is that classification for indefinite or long periods of time has the potential to mask a lot of wrongdoing and protect government officials from accountability. 

While it makes sense to keep some information classified, the government often overplays its hand, as with the Kennedy files. Time after time, it refuses to declassify documents pertaining to events that happened so long ago that many of the people involved have long been dead.

This ultimately leads to more distrust. After all, efforts to keep secrets give people reason to believe that there are horrifying things — akin to the government’s experiments on human subjects during World War II and the 1950s (among others) — that the US is trying to hide, even if many classified reports are relatively benign.

And keeping so many records under wraps doesn’t just fuel conspiracy theories; it also prevents us from keeping an accurate historical record.

So far, the JFK files don’t appear to offer any earth-shattering revelations about the assassination itself. Ninety-nine percent of the documents had already been public, and some of the remaining ones might be duplicates or have already been at least partially released.

But if the government learns one thing from their release, it ought to be this: To squash conspiracy theories and to ensure people have a realistic understanding of its role in historic events, the US needs to stop keeping so many needless secrets.

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The terrors of TB: We’re starting to lose ground in the long battle against tuberculosis, Dylan Scott finds in this interview with John Green, but there’s something we can do about it. 

Power struggles: The Supreme Court will soon hear a case that could strip Congress of some of its power, and transfer it to the courts, Ian Millhiser explains. 

Pro-Israel antisemites: There’s a growing trend on the far right, Zack Beauchamp writes — a wave of figures who swear they are pro-Israel, but also speak and act in antisemitic ways.

Eruptions in Eastern Europe: There are tons of protests going on in Eastern Europe right now; here’s a helpful overview of what’s going on, and what’s got people there so upset. [Radio Free Europe]

Abortion arrests: Texas has arrested some medical professionals it says broke the state's abortion law. [AP]

Bullfighting battle: A law to alter Mexican bullfighting — such that bulls aren’t killed during fights — has passed; bullfighting traditionalists pledged to fight the law. [NYT]

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I’m always looking for new books (despite being told I already have too many), and thanks to Constance Grady — who recently recommended these “four portraits of complicated women” (including one by Vox alum Emily St. James!) — I have some new ones on my list.

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Today’s edition was produced and edited by me, news editor Sean Collins. The week is growing old; here's to a strong finish. 

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