The Washington Post has a fascinating expose of the post-911 government after concluding an interesting two-year investigative journalism project.
To ensure that the country’s most sensitive duties are carried out only by people loyal above all to the nation’s interest, federal rules say contractors may not perform what are called “inherently government functions.” But they do, all the time and in every intelligence and counterterrorism agency, according to a two-year investigation by The Washington Post.
What started as a temporary fix in response to the terrorist attacks has turned into a dependency that calls into question whether the federal workforce includes too many people obligated to shareholders rather than the public interest — and whether the government is still in control of its most sensitive activities. In interviews last week, both Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and CIA Director Leon Panetta said they agreed with such concerns.
The Post investigation uncovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America created since 9/11 that is hidden from public view, lacking in thorough oversight and so unwieldy that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.
I have not read through even a small percentage of the content available online so formulating an opinion on the subject matter is going to take some time. However, I have direct experience where contractors regularly act on behalf of the US government even though doing so is against the law. In most cases this is not malicious, but because the job has to get done and sometimes “acting on behalf of the US government” is so subjective that the answer could be debated for years.
Nonetheless, the Washington Post should be commended for the exceptional amount of time it took to amass all the data they have compiled and placed online for public consumption. This is the type of journalism we need, whereby the press performs those much needed checks against what our government is doing on a daily basis. These expose’s are an important part of democracy and will only serve to make America stronger in the longrun.
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