Amidst the American hunger for instantaneous news and up-to-date "facts", this unflinching film purportedly uncovers the vast, invisible world of government secrecy.
This documentary appealed to me because government secrecy is something I deal with every day. As an organized crime historian, I frequently read FBI and police documents that were previously classified. In many cases, information that had never been known is now being brought to light because of the reports. So, the balance of secrets and publicity is important to me.
I do like how this documentary looks at many different angles. Although very short, it manages to look at how the press can hamper important national security issues by making secrets public. Conversely, it looks at how the government has a tendency to be overly protective of "secrets" that never should have been secret in the first place. And most importantly, it covers how different agencies fail to share information with each other -- the biggest problem in secrecy is the inter-agency rapport.
What is the answer to these important problems? I choose not to even offer such a suggestion. The documentary also never fully offers suggestions. But can you blame them? This could be the most important issue the federal government has to deal with.
