Senate Report not about openness: Opposing view (Mark M. Lowenthal)

USA TODAY, OPINION, December 9, 2014

One of the inherent contradictions of running an intelligence service in a democracy is the inevitable clash between openness and secrecy. Both are necessary for different reasons at different times. But neither openness nor secrecy can constantly trump the other as the absolute and ultimate virtue.

In recent years, the call has arisen for “transparency” across a range of intelligence operations. Simply put, we cannot conduct necessarily secret operations with a view to making them transparent.

Some operations, such as the raid against Osama bin Laden, can succeed only if they are kept secret until after their completion. And some must remain secret even after completion.

As it is, the U.S. intelligence community operates in a more transparent atmosphere than most other democratic services. Budgets and operations are shared in excruciating detail with the congressional oversight committees.

That certainly was the case with the rendition and interrogation programs. Their existence and conduct was not kept from Congress. There was transparency within the rules and laws governing U.S. intelligence.

Aside from the fact that there is no “public right to know” enumerated in the Constitution (freedom of speech and the press are not the same thing), we must acknowledge that there was also no public outcry for the release of this report.

The public wants to know that intelligence operates under law and with oversight and that intelligence seeks to keep them safe. All those conditions have been met.

At core, the debate over releasing the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report is less about openness than about the Congress attempting to divest itself of its role in urging and authorizing a range of activities that are not viewed in the same light as they were in the aftermath of 9/11.

This is not a debate about openness. It is about the washing of hands like Pontius Pilate.

Mark M. Lowenthal, president of the Intelligence & Security Academy, was assistant CIA director for analysis and production during the Bush administration, and staff director to the House Intelligence Committee.