File:Negative Information Action.pdf

Negative Information Action:

Danger for Democracy

• Christopher L. Hinson Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA,chris.l.hinson@gmail.com

American Behavioral Scientist 2010; 53; 826

DOI: 10.1177/0002764209353276

Abstract

This article explores evidence of, and provides insight into, secrecy-related information actions that are sometimes used to circumvent established government policy and law. These information actions may also be used to cover up such circumventions after the fact. To better understand secrecy as a negative information action and its impact on democracy, secrecy-related information actions are described according to methods, information technologies, and knowledge support. Negative information actions are willful and deliberate acts designed to keep government information from those in government and the public entitled to it. Negative information actions subvert the rule of law and the constitutional checks and balances. Negative information actions used by government officials to violate policies and laws during the IranContra Affair are identified, analyzed, and categorized by type. The relative impact of negative information actions on enlightened citizen understanding is demonstrated using a Negative Information Action Model by assigning a location according to type on a continuum of enlightened citizen understanding. Findings are compared with democratic theory and conspiracy doctrine.

See Also

The following files/documents from the February 2010 edition of American Behavioral Scientist are available on Wikispooks:

• Beyond Conspiracy Theory Patterns of High Crime in American Government
• File:Beyond Conspiracy Theory.pdf - pdf of the above document
• File:The Politics of Fear and SCADs.pdf The USA PATRIOT Acts (et al.):Convergent Legislation and Oligarchic Isomorphism in the "Politics of Fear" and State Crime(s) Against Democracy (SCADs)
• File:Framing SCAD Research.pdf Sense Making Under "Holographic" Conditions: Framing SCAD Research
• File:Pretending Not to See or Hear.pdf
• File:Negative Information Action.pdf
• File:In Denial of Democracy.pdf