The whys and wherefores of leaks
The Hindu
B.S. Raghavan / December 6, 2010

Make no mistake. We have entered the epoch of leaks. Societies, governments, corporates and whatever be the group or organisation are going to witness the stripping of every pretence and every fig leaf.

It is going to be transparency with a vengeance. At one time, we talked of open society; leaks are tumbling us into a naked society. At one time, open agreements openly arrived at was just a clever spin.

We are heading towards an era in which every thing is going to be out in the open, laid bare, x-rayed, dissected, commented upon.

No place to hide

All this is inherent in the sheer tsunami-like force of information technology and communications revolution. They are going to sweep before them every impediment to the dissemination of whatever is contained in whatever form in whatever contrivance or contraption. As I key in these letters, I am aware that they are poised to take wings at the speed of thought and can land up anywhere they please. Any means of communication is liable to be hacked, pried into, spread in all directions, at the click of a mouse. There is going to be no place to hide.

Could anyone have imagined before the advent of the Wikileaks Web site that literally millions of documents can be accessed, uploaded and brought within the reach of everyone of the billions populating the globe — effortlessly, seamlessly, and with promise (or threat) of more to come. We have no choice but to gear ourselves to riding the like of Lord Gilpin's horse which had the unique capacity of galloping off simultaneously in all directions all at once.

What a laughable contrast old times were! I recall my own nine years (1961-69) in the Ministry of Home Affairs as the head of the ‘T' (Top Secret) branch, and a member of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC). The behaviour of my second-in-command in the ‘T' branch used to remind me of the story circulating about the US Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, who came to meet the US President, Lyndon B. Johnson, one day in his Oval Office and told him, “Mr President, I have come with something that is so top secret that one of us must leave this room before I bring it up!”

Indeed, the thought of even the barebones of any internal notings and discussions on issues being passed on to anyone without having the right to know would have shocked the officials of 1950s to 1970s beyond measure.

Double-faced doublespeak

One explanation is the character and calibre of those in public service. More important than that was the fact that the government of the day held back from the public only those categories of information which really deserved to be regarded as state secrets and did not resort to intrusive measures such as telephone tapping, mail interception and the like except when they were totally unavoidable. In short, governments enjoyed high credibility among both the employees and members of the public. They were willing to believe in the good faith of the actions of those in authority. No longer: Increasingly, the governments even in long-standing democracies have come to be run by persons who blatantly misuse their powers of classification of documents to keep the people in the dark about their malfeasance and misdeeds and not in furtherance of public interest. The authority to search, raid and pry is used to humiliate, harass and hound critics and opponents.

The rampant nature of such pernicious tendencies has imposed an unbearable strain on the sense of loyalty and trust of the employees. Leaks have become the only means available to them to expose the double-faced double speak of those at the various echelons in the governments and the corporate sector who strut on the public stage throwing their chests out, while in reality preying upon the society and the nation.