Daily Inspiration Quote by Harold H. Greene

Greene’s warning lands with the cold clarity of someone who has watched power migrate from the visible parts of government to the shadowed ones. As a judge, he isn’t romanticizing democracy; he’s describing a failure mode. The line turns on two phrases: “with impunity” and “entitled to know.” If the security apparatus can act without consequence, the usual checks (elections, oversight, law) become ceremonial. And if elected officials are “entitled” to information, then withholding it isn’t just bureaucratic turf-protection; it’s a constitutional injury.

The quote’s most pointed move is its escalation: concealment is bad, disinformation is worse. That “or worse, feed false information” reframes the threat from passive secrecy to active manipulation. Greene is describing not merely a government that keeps secrets, but a system where the secret-keepers can manufacture reality for the people nominally in charge. The subtext is epistemic: decision-making depends on what you think is true. Control the classified pipeline and you don’t need to win elections; you can steer the elected toward the outcomes you prefer.

Contextually, Greene’s era ran through the national-security state’s postwar expansion, Vietnam’s credibility gap, Watergate, and the normalization of classification as a governing technique. His concern anticipates a “deep state” storyline, but without the melodrama: the danger isn’t a cabal, it’s an incentive structure. When secrecy is routine and accountability is optional, the real sovereign becomes whoever controls the file drawer.