Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) for Outreach and Social Media Sumit Agarwal sat down with Reddit.com for its âAsk Me Anythingâ interview series, in which users of the social-networking news site posted questions.
The result was a far-reaching conversation on everything from net neutrality to the WikiLeaks disclosures.
Agarwal said he didnât think net neutrality was as big an issue for the United States because of its strong tradition of free speech. But he said the U.S. response to it could have repercussions around the globe.
âIâm not sure that there will be any clear or negative impact(s) on our ability to communicate within the United States regardless of what happens with net neutrality,â Agarwal said. âI think outside the United States, whatever precedents are set by the actions we take with regard to net neutrality may have a positive impact or a negative impact in certain countries that have a strong or not so strong tradition of freedom of speech and censorshipâ¦â
One questioner prodded Agarwal on why the administration had not made more of a First Amendment case for net neutrality. Agarwal said he wasnât âdeeply familiarâ with the White Houseâs position, but did offer some area of agreement.
âWe (all) want free, unfettered innovation,” he said. “We want companies that didnât exist yesterday to provide amazing new services tomorrow. On the other hand, we also want there to be speed, quality, robustness of service and investment in the internet. I think those are the things that weâre struggling to balance.â
Agarwal also noted the need for balance in releasing classified information, and took WikiLeaks to task for its disclosures.
âI think it was illegal for WikiLeaks to release the classified information that it did,” he said. “I donât agree with that; I certainly donât advocate it. It creates a tension between our making the raw information that our service members need on the front lines and our need to secure that information⦠Thereâs a balance that has to be struck between availability on the front lines and security on the back lines.â
Notice how he says “we all want free information”.
That is liberalspeak for “we want censorship”. Liberalspeak is a sort of piglatin where every statement means its negation. Translation is hard at first, but it gets easier as you free your mind.