Correction: An Anomalous Rise in Public Knowledge
Secrecy News last week misquoted a line in President Obama’s inaugural speech. He did not say: “And those of us who manage the public’s knowledge will be held to account….” What he said was “And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account….”
The erroneous reference to “public knowledge” was also published by the Washington Post, United Press International, and other news outlets. It may have originated with a mistake by the FDCH transcription service.
The text of the inaugural address on the White House web site says “public dollars,” not “public knowledge,” and it is clear from the tape of the speech that that is correct. Thanks to reader LD for questioning the discrepancy.
There must be lots of historic events that were mistakenly transcribed and reported.
“You can’t make an anomalous rise twice,” said J. Robert Oppenheimer, according to the official record of his momentous hearing before the Atomic Energy Commission in 1954.
But what Oppenheimer actually said was “You can’t make an omelet rise twice” (as noted by Philip M. Stern). Oh well.
The Oppenheimer case is to be reviewed once again in the latest episode of PBS’s American Experience tonight.
Current scientific understanding shows that so-called “anonymization” methods that have been widely used in the past are inadequate for protecting privacy in the era of big data and artificial intelligence.
China is NOT a nuclear “peer” of the United States, as some contend.
China’s total number of approximately 600 warheads constitutes only a small portion of the United States’ estimated stockpile of 3,700 warheads.
The Federation of American Scientists strongly supports the Modernizing Wildfire Safety and Prevention Act of 2025.
The Federation of American Scientists strongly supports the Regional Leadership in Wildland Fire Research Act of 2025.