Philip Giraldi Archive - The Unz Review

These buttons register your public Agreement, Disagreement, Thanks, LOL, or Troll with the selected comment. They are ONLY available to recent, frequent commenters who have saved their Name+Email using the 'Remember My Information' checkbox, and may also ONLY be used three times during any eight hour period.

Email Comment Ignore Commenter Follow Commenter

Why Secrecy Rules Apply to Everyone

Federal agencies relentlessly pursue suspected whistleblowers, while self-serving politicians escape punishment

Philip Giraldi • April 19, 2016

• 1,500 Words • Leave a Comment

Starting with Hammurabi, rulers have frequently appreciated that their subjects would be more acquiescent to being governed if they had at least a minimal appreciation that they were being treated fairly. That understanding has led to the development of law codes along the lines of the Roman Republic’s laws of the Twelve Tables, which were... Read More

Obama’s State Secrets Overreach

This administration has stretched the questionable legal provision beyond the breaking point, dismissing private suits

Philip Giraldi • April 9, 2015

• 1,600 Words • Leave a Comment

It has been observed that the Barack Obama administration has employed the state secrets privilege more than all preceding presidential administrations combined. There is a certain irony inherent in that fact as Obama ran for office in 2008 specifically committing himself to creating a more open and transparent government. The contemporary version of the state... Read More

Government’s Closed-Source Intelligence

Overclassification fetishizes reports stamped "secret," and covers up official malfeasance

Philip Giraldi • June 18, 2014

• 1,400 Words • Leave a Comment

In a recent discussion I had with Scott Horton on his radio show, we speculated as to why the White House, which surely includes very many smart, hard-working, and responsible people, just cannot seem to recognize the cognitive dissonance inherent in supporting contradictory policies in places like Syria. Supporting the “rebels” in an effort that... Read More

"Government Secrecy" Items Across Entire Archive

About Philip Giraldi

Phil Giraldi is a former CIA Case Officer and Army Intelligence Officer who spent twenty years overseas in Europe and the Middle East working terrorism cases. He holds a BA with honors from the University of Chicago and an MA and PhD in Modern History from the University of London. In addition to TAC, where he has been a contributing editor for nine years, he writes regularly for Antiwar.com. He is currently Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest and resides with his wife of 32 years in Virginia horse country close to his daughters and grandchildren.

Personal Classics