"No One" Speaks

Former NSA and CIA Director General Michael V. Hayden, the newest appointed member of the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB), published today a commentary in which he states that Obama was wrong to release the Office of Legal Counsel memos on torture.

There are so many objectionable items in Hayden's piece. For now, I'll focus on just two. First, Hayden states that:

Even today there are activities that are universally "known" but are still not officially confirmed by the U.S. government, and no one (emphasis added) takes issue with the wisdom of continuing the policy of official silence.

I, for one, (apparently a "no one") take issue with such wisdom. The continued classification of activities that are universally "known" serves to undermine the integrity of the very system we depend upon to ensure that our nation’s adversaries cannot use truly sensitive national security related information to harm us.

Secondly, Hayden states that :

... to reveal the details of this technique would tie the hands of a president in a future emergency -- since, after all, laws and policies and presidents could always change.

That is precisely the reason why it was appropriate to release those memos -- to ensure that future president's do not inflict torture upon other human beings in the name of all Americans.

I do not know what vision Hayden has for our nation, but for me it does not include a government whose conduct includes:

Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession ... when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official....
– Convention Against Torture, Article 1.1, which, pursuant to our Constitution, is the "supreme law of the land."