Do Americans Have a Right to Know If Their Government Is Incompetent?

[EasyAce]

A Senate report on Trump administration leaks overstates national security risks.
By Scott Shackford
http://reason.com/blog/2017/07/07/do-americans-have-a-right-to-know-if-the

A new report put together by the staff of the Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs warns of an "avalanche" of leaks from President Donald Trump's administration. The report contends these
leaks are threats to our country's safety and security, but we should be very wary about accepting such assertions
given how little evidence the report provides.

From Inauguration Day to May 25, the report notes, at least 125 stories have appeared in the news that are sourced
from "leaked information potentially damaging national security." That's about a leak a day. The authors calculate
this is seven times higher than the number of similar leaks in the early months of George W. Bush and Barack
Obama's administrations.

The report also argues that many of the leaks present Trump in a "harsh light" and were obviously intended to make
him look bad, which was not the case for most early leaks under Bush and Obama. The implication is that people
within the intelligence apparatus want to undermine Trump so much that they're willing to compromise national
security . . .

. . . The report's authors also decided to classify fired FBI Director James Comey's public disclosures about his private
conversations with Trump as potentially damaging "leaks." These are conversations where Comey claims the president
attempted to influence him into ending the FBI's investigation of former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn. And so
many of the news reports that are the result of Comey's memos ending up in the media are on the list.

Here's a thought exercise: Imagine all those headlines [of leaked stories] originated from Obama's administration, not
Trump's. Wouldn't we want to know how an operation in Yemen went bad under Obama's leadership? Wouldn't we want
to know if his own agencies disagreed with the need for some of his policies? Wouldn't we want to know if he loses his
temper with the leader of another country? Rather than highlighting the dangers of leaks within the Trump administration,
this list frankly should make us angry that we didn't get more leaks under Obama and Bush.

[Wingnut]

Kinda a low bar there.   Our Gov has been Incompetent for so long now that is kinda a rhetorical question.

[Smokin Joe]

Kinda a low bar there.   Our Gov has been Incompetent for so long now that is kinda a rhetorical question.

Yeah, it's more like would we notice the difference. As far as leaks go, those are the ones we knew about, not ones we didn't.

As for do we have a Right to know if they are incompetent?

Absolutely, we do. Every employer does employee evaluations. That way we can remove the problem people, put competent people in the positions, or eliminate the positions entirely.

[bigheadfred]

I know, right? Do the people have the ability?