Secret Government

The Post-9/11/01 Shutdown of Government Accountability

For decades, secretive government programs have operated without any accountability to the people, and little if any to Congress, which is supposed to oversee them. These are often called black operations because information about them and even their budgets is secret, and they have usually been conducted by the military or secretive agencies such as the NSA. Since September 11th, this blanket of secrecy has spread to civilian portions of the federal government.

Months after September 11th, journalists broke the story that plans for a "shadow government", conceived during the Reagan administration, had taken effect on September 11th. Approximately 100 mid-level officials were moved to underground bunkers, to be rotated with others on a 90-day cycle. No Democrats were among the participants, and Congressional Democrats were apparently unaware of the operation until it was revealed by the reports. ^{1   2   3}  

---

References

1. Shadow Government Is at Work in Secret, Washington Post, 3/1/02 [cached]
2. 'Shadow Government' News To Congress, CBS, 3/2/02 [cached]
3. Court won't hear 9/11 secrecy challenges, seattlepi.com, 2/23/04 [cached]