SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE • Every day, thousands of new secrets are created by the United States government. What is all this secrecy really for? And whom does it benefit? “A brilliant, deeply unsettling look at the history and inner workings of ‘the dark state'.... At a time when federal agencies are increasingly classifying or destroying documents with historical significance, this book could not be more important.” —Eric Schlosser, New York Times best-selling author of Command and Control Before World War II, transparent government was a proud tradition in the United States. In all but the most serious of circumstances, classification, covert operations, and spying were considered deeply un-American. But after the war, the power to decide what could be kept secret proved too tempting to give up. Since then, we have radically departed from that open tradition, allowing intelligence agencies, black sites, and classified laboratories to grow unchecked. Officials insist that only secrecy can keep us safe, but its true costs have gone unacknowledged for too long. Using the latest techniques in data science, historian Matthew Connelly analyzes a vast trove of state secrets to unearth not only what the government really did not want us to know but also why they didn’t want us to know it. Culling this research and carefully examining a series of pivotal moments in recent history, from Pearl Harbor to drone warfare, Connelly sheds light on the drivers of state secrecy— especially incompetence and criminality—and how rampant overclassification makes it impossible to protect truly vital information. What results is an astonishing study of power: of the greed it enables, of the negligence it protects, and of what we lose as citizens when our leaders cannot be held to account. A crucial examination of the self-defeating nature of secrecy and the dire state of our nation’s archives, The Declassification Engine is a powerful reminder of the importance of preserving the past so that we may secure our future. Shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize • A Kirkus Best Nonfiction Book of the Year “It may be the most presciently timed book ever written. . . . It's the love story between America and its secrets.” —Jon Stewart “Connelly has defined an existential crisis: the suppression of American history. . . . The Declassification Engine makes the case that the culture of secrecy diminishes democracy. And it has now become a culture of destruction as well.” —Tim Weiner, The New York Times Book Review “Fascinating and urgent. . . . If you believe in the founding principles of the American form of government, then the stakes could scarcely be higher.” —Patrick Radden Keefe, Foreign Affairs “Harrowing. . . . Connelly’s book unearths disturbing tales. . . . Readers will doubtless look to The Declassification Engine to make sense of the classified files that are now in the news. Yet to insist on the timeliness of Connelly’s research may be to miss its most powerful lesson. There is a much sadder story detailed in the pages of The Declassification Engine —a story about the existential threat that secrecy poses to civic knowledge.” — The Washington Post “Connelly has written a gripping and sobering account of the exponential increase in government secrets. He persuasively argues that the United States needs a new strategy to handle classified material, demonstrating that both our national security and the health of our democracy are at stake.” — The Christian Science Monitor “A brilliant, deeply unsettling look at the history and inner workings of ‘the dark state.’ The number of things that truly must be kept secret is small.  The vast amount of information classified by the government is simply a means of wielding enormous power without real oversight. Again and again, Connelly reveals, secrecy has been used to hide mistakes, avoid embarrassment, cover up incompetence, and mislead the public. At a time when federal agencies are increasingly classifying or destroying documents with historical significance, this book could not be more important. An inscription at the entrance to the National Archives says it best:  ‘Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.’ ” — Eric Schlosser, New York Times best-selling author of Command and Control “In The Declassification Engine, Matthew Connelly provides an incisive, unexpected account of the history and practice of official secrecy, offering a glimpse into a world that truly exists in the shadows. By showing the corrosive effects of state secrecy, he successfully makes the case for a different attitude to public information.” —Anne Applebaum, New York Times best - selling author of Twilight of Democracy “The Declassification Engine is an outstanding expose of the secrecy-industrial complex that is suffocating our democracy. Matthew Connelly describes in vivid detail how the dark state became rooted in our national-securit