Some notes on my literature review

Looking into the literature about government secrecy I have found some interesting descriptions that will help me establish a broader background on the topic. This will lead me eventually to have a better understanding on the specific issues I will be analyzing. So I decided to post some comments on what I have found so far. Eventually I will post a most formal annotated bibliography, so this is a starting point.

Harold C. Relyea presents a very good overview of the history of government secrecy within the federal government in his article “Government secrecy: policy depths and dimensions” (Government Information Quarterly 20 (2003): 395-418). With this overview from the beginnings of the republic, when there were no specific policies for secrecy but where it “was sometimes exercised as a practical necessity,” to the policies established after 9/11, Relyea calls for more in-depth research. One of the events that called my attention was the signing by Pres. Truman of E.O. 10290 on September 24, 1951. This order strengthened the President’s discretion to make secrecy policy and created broader concepts that could led the creation of more official secrets. The consequence of this order was widespread criticism from the public and the press. Relyea does not goes into the specifics of this criticism, but it could be interesting to study it and compare it with the current discourse.

Relyea also argues that the government must keep in mind that secrecy they impose is momentary and that “the citizenry, in turn, accept such secrecy only in limited instances and on a momentary basis in order to have the confidence that their representatives are making decisions and policies acceptable to them.” (p. 412) However, he fails to be more specific in this argument. Because he concentrates on presenting a historical background, he does not show evidence in this regard. It is true that society accepts secrecy in limited instances, or are they willing to let the government be more secret (without holding it accountable) in the name of national security? Which are the bases of this argument?

Most of the literature I have found comes from political science journals like Government Information Quarterly. So far, I haven’t found significant literature about government secrecy from archival journals, which does not surprise me. In fact, this is one of the reasons I want to do this project. These are other articles I have found:

Feinberg, LE, “FOIA, federal information policy, and information availability in a post-9/11 world,” Government Information Quarterly 21, no. 4 (2004): 439-460

Sleeman, B, “Recent Literature on Government Information,” Journal of Government Information 30, no. 4 (2004): 490-493

Perritt, Henry H., “Open Government,” Government Information Quarterly 14, no. 4 (1997): 397-406

Lewis, Jeremy R. T., “Reinventing (Open) Government: State and Federal Trends,” Government Information Quarterly 12, no. 4 (1995): 427-455

Rieder, Rem, “Hold That Obit,” American Journalism Review 27, no. 2 (Apr/May 2005): 6

I will like also to find literature using qualitative research to study government secrecy, like case studies or articles on how to apply qualitative research to analyze topics on government issues. Any recommendations are welcome.