Daniel Ellsberg: The Effect of Top Secret Clearance – wonkmonk's notes
He apparently recounted one of my favorite Ellsberg stories, and since it’s one of my favorites I’m going to repeat it in full below. It’s from Ellsberg’s book Secrets, and the setting is a meeting…
I took that opportunity to tell him [Henry Kissinger] something that I’d long thought of telling somebody who was about to enter the world of really high secrecy. And I said, “Henry, you’re about to get a lot of clearances higher than top secret that you did not know existed. That’s going to have a sequence of effects on you. First, a great exhilaration that you’re getting all this amazing information that you didn’t know even existed. And the next phase is you’ll feel like a fool for not having known of any of this. But that won’t last long. Ver
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related reading
- Daniel Ellsberg on the Limits of Knowledge – Mother Jonesmotherjones.com
- How to Stage a Coup - by Santi Ruiz - Statecraftstatecraft.pub
- Interview with History: Henry Kissinger | by Oriana Fallaci | Scraps from the loftscrapsfromtheloft.com
- Daniel Ellsberg obituary | US national security | The Guardiantheguardian.com
- Steve Blank Secret Historysteveblank.com
- Competent Elites — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Daniel Ellsberg Wants to Be Prosecuted Under Espionage Acttheintercept.com
- The obscure federal intelligence bureau that got Vietnam, Iraq, and Ukraine rightvox.com
- What Robert Caro learned about power after studying it for 50 yearsyoutube.com
- Lessons from The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Carodwarkesh.com
- Secrets about People: A Short and Dangerous Introduction to René Girard – Alex Danco's Newsletteralexdanco.com
- The tragedy behind Kissinger's realpolitik - UnHerdunherd.com