I'm not a big fan of it. Very little information is actually all that dangerous. Spill the beans on the SEALs exact missions in the next month, they'll just find other ways. Bad guys do something, we figure out how to stop it. We do something, they figure out how to stop it. They burn an agent, we turn another. We crack an informant, they figure it out and change plans. Human ingenuity is the battle. Nothing lasts forever, so trying to keep it secret is pointless.
Second, I like the idea that we are (supposed to be) an open society. That our government is (supposed to be) transparent to the people who are (supposed to be) represented by it and in charge of it. And I don't think it necessarily hampers things. When Earl Campbell played RB for the Houston Oilers, everybody knew he was getting the ball on 3rd and goal. It didn't matter much.



Aside from all that, this administration has aptly shown how this national security classification can be abused to the detriment of a free society.
In this particular instance, we can't know if it was appropriate to keep the press out. I have less of a problem with this kind of thing, where the security issue doesn't hamper defense or shut down the case, and there are people of our society who are hearing it and making the decision (ie the jury).

__________________
1984 300TD