Database and Terrorism - Essay Example

What information can be sold or Released to the public? The most recent directive issued by President Barack Obama, the Executive Order 13526, man s that the government can classify specific types of documents and data that are pivotal to the United States national security. This classification determines those information that could be sold or released to the public. This policy is not only sensible but actually is necessary. There are information that could aid the US enemies especially in carrying out terrorist attacks or those acts aimed at exploiting weaknesses and all those state secrets that could endanger national security.

On the other hand, there are information, especially those related to terrorism as well as in national security itself that are permitted to be shared with the public. This is what this paper will explore.The right to know or access information from the government, including those that concern national security, is guaranteed by the US Constitution. Judicial jurisprudence in this regard has consistently upheld that the right to acquire information is an essential component of the First Amendment.

In this regard, there are indeed information that the public has the right to know and must know. For instance, in the event of terrorism, the public must know how to respond and, hence, must acquire information in regard to the nature of attacks and ways how to mitigate it. According to Wessely and Krasnov (2005), authorities should seek partnership with the public, provide measure facts for them to make independent choices rather than providing information that is believed what they should hear. (p. 218)Another area wherein access to information is vital concerns the scientific community.

There is a growing belief among policymakers that suppressing the transfer of knowledge and technology is vital to the security of the United States. Such belief is not unfounded. Between 1998 and 2000, the US faced three national security crises involving the potential loss of scientific and technical information when China stole advanced military technology from the Department of Energy’s premier national security laboratories. (Esano and Uhir 2003, p. 107) Restricting access to scientific data and technology, on the other hand, could prove detrimental to the growth of the research and development in the United States because such restrictions could diminish the amount of scientific and technical data available in public domain and obstruct scientific inquiry.

What must be done is a close collaboration between the security agencies and the scientific community in order outline what are the risks, what are permitted and what are security threats.Finally, there is also the case of historical materials. Documents, for instance, involving World War II, the Korean War, relations with China, and other foreign policy papers that had been declassified were again reclassified. (Welch et al. 2009, p. 353) However, due to public rebuke, mostly from historians and librarians, such reclassification has been suspended by the National Archives director and, hence, are again available to the public.

It is important to underscore that while there is a need to suppress the access of information for the American national security, such policy must not be done in a way that proves disadvantageous to the American interest. After all, information has always been the lifeblood of the science, the fuel that drives the American economy and force that fosters the democratic system.ReferencesEsanu, J. and Uhir, P. (2003). The role of scientific and technical data and information in the public domain: proceedings of a symposium.

Washington D.C.: National Academies Press.Welsch, S., Gruhl, J., Comer, J. and Rigdon, S. (2009). Understanding American Government. Boston: Cengage Learning.Wessely, S. and Krasnov, V. (2005). Psychological responses to the new terrorism: a NATO-Russia dialogue. Amsterdam: IOS Press.