Security and Survival

In articles adapted from a speech for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Noam Chomsky argues that government secrecy has more to do with securing state power from public scrutiny.  U.S. actions like the drone program, secretly conducted, amount to state terrorism and actually undermine our security by increasing the risk of retaliation.

Chomsky goes on to note that the threat of nuclear war still exists.  Avoiding destruction so far has sometimes been just a matter of luck.  The U.S. is projected to spend $1 trillion on nuclear weapons over the next 30 years.  And then government inaction regarding climate change further undermines security.  The heightened push for oil and gas production could well be a "death-knell for the species".  Securing profits overrides any rational concern for our well-being.

To put it bluntly, in the moral calculus of today's capitalism, a bigger bonus tomorrow outweighs the fate of one's grandchildren.

Update (July 1):  Chomsky further describes the "driving forces in policy formation" as that of "securing state power from the domestic population and securing concentrated private power".

Update (July 11):  I'm not aware of a transcript, but a Durham Castle lecture titled "Surviving the 21st Century" also elaborates on these same themes.

Update (August 5):  More from Chomsky about nuclear weapons and national security.

Update (April 27, 2017):  Noam Chomsky's lecture on "The Prospects for Survival".