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SHFG is delighted to welcome Matthew Connelly, professor of international and global history at Columbia University, for our first virtual Hewlett Lecture. Please join us October 22, 2024 at 12PM on Zoom for a talk and discussion of his book, The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals About America’s Top Secrets. Before World War II, transparent government was a proud tradition in the United States. In all but the most serious of circumstances, classification, covert operations, and spying were considered deeply un-American. But after the war, the power to decide what could be kept secret proved too tempting to give up. Since then, we have radically departed from that open tradition. Using the latest techniques in data science, Connelly analyzes a vast trove of state secrets, shedding light on the massive scale of the issue of classified documents, and the sandboxing and obfuscation that results. Culling this research and carefully examining a series of pivotal moments in recent history, from Pearl Harbor to drone warfare, Connelly sheds light on the drivers of state secrecy and how rampant overclassification makes it impossible to protect truly vital information. RSVP for the Zoom link
SHFG is delighted to welcome Matthew Connelly, professor of international and global history at Columbia University, for our first virtual Hewlett Lecture. Please join us October 22, 2024 at 12PM on Zoom for a talk and discussion of his book, The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals About America’s Top Secrets.
Before World War II, transparent government was a proud tradition in the United States. In all but the most serious of circumstances, classification, covert operations, and spying were considered deeply un-American. But after the war, the power to decide what could be kept secret proved too tempting to give up. Since then, we have radically departed from that open tradition.
Using the latest techniques in data science, Connelly analyzes a vast trove of state secrets, shedding light on the massive scale of the issue of classified documents, and the sandboxing and obfuscation that results. Culling this research and carefully examining a series of pivotal moments in recent history, from Pearl Harbor to drone warfare, Connelly sheds light on the drivers of state secrecy and how rampant overclassification makes it impossible to protect truly vital information.
RSVP for the Zoom link
Society for History in the Federal Government shfg.primary@gmail.comPO BOX 14139 Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044
