Operation Dark Heart
Encyclopedia
Operation Dark Heart is a 2010 memoir
by U.S. Army intelligence officer Lt. Col Anthony Shaffer
notable for the lengths the U.S. Defense Department went in an attempt to censor
information revealed within, after the book had already been distributed free of redactions.
The book details Shaffer's five months in Afghanistan
and includes former code names, operational details, and describes some of the inner workings of America's intelligence agencies. After submitting the book for review to the U.S. Army in 2003 and receiving approval, a printing of an only modestly censored edition was made, and nearly 100 advanced copies were distributed.
Shortly after the first printing, the Defense Intelligence Agency
and National Security Agency
saw copies of the book and insisted on censoring passages they deemed sensitive. The first, uncensored printing of nearly 10,000 copies was purchased and destroyed by the Pentagon in its entirety, and a second, censored printing was released in September 2010. However, because several original, advanced copies are in circulation, the contents of the censored passages are known, and the Pentagon's attempt to keep the information secret has flagged the known but censored content as more interesting. Further, the entire debacle has attracted more attention to the book, undermining the Pentagon's proclaimed intention of keeping the information contained, barring an even more exhaustive effort.
On September 26, 2010 Wikileaks announced that it had obtained a copy of the first edition on Twitter
.
On September 29, 2010, the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy posted a brief article analyzing the redactions and criticizing their quality, and also posted side-by-side comparisons of pages xvi, xvii, 30, 55, 56, 195 and 257. On October 5, 2010, they published a side-by-side comparison of the book's index.
On October 4, 2010, the Army Times
published a before-and-after analysis of ten redactions in the book.
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
by U.S. Army intelligence officer Lt. Col Anthony Shaffer
Anthony Shaffer (intelligence officer)
Anthony Shaffer is a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel who gained fame for his claims about mishandled intelligence before the September 11 attacks and for the censoring of his book, Operation Dark Heart....
notable for the lengths the U.S. Defense Department went in an attempt to censor
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
information revealed within, after the book had already been distributed free of redactions.
The book details Shaffer's five months in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and includes former code names, operational details, and describes some of the inner workings of America's intelligence agencies. After submitting the book for review to the U.S. Army in 2003 and receiving approval, a printing of an only modestly censored edition was made, and nearly 100 advanced copies were distributed.
Shortly after the first printing, the Defense Intelligence Agency
Defense Intelligence Agency
The Defense Intelligence Agency is a member of the Intelligence Community of the United States, and is the central producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense, employing over 16,500 U.S. military and civilian employees worldwide...
and National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
saw copies of the book and insisted on censoring passages they deemed sensitive. The first, uncensored printing of nearly 10,000 copies was purchased and destroyed by the Pentagon in its entirety, and a second, censored printing was released in September 2010. However, because several original, advanced copies are in circulation, the contents of the censored passages are known, and the Pentagon's attempt to keep the information secret has flagged the known but censored content as more interesting. Further, the entire debacle has attracted more attention to the book, undermining the Pentagon's proclaimed intention of keeping the information contained, barring an even more exhaustive effort.
On September 26, 2010 Wikileaks announced that it had obtained a copy of the first edition on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
.
Critical publications of plain text versus redacted text
On September 18, 2010, the New York Times published, with commentary, the plain text and censored versions of page 26 of the book.On September 29, 2010, the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy posted a brief article analyzing the redactions and criticizing their quality, and also posted side-by-side comparisons of pages xvi, xvii, 30, 55, 56, 195 and 257. On October 5, 2010, they published a side-by-side comparison of the book's index.
On October 4, 2010, the Army Times
Army Times
Army Times is a weekly newspaper serving active, reserve, guard and retired United States Army personnel and their families, providing news, information and analysis as well as community and lifestyle features, educational supplements, and resource guides.Army Times is published by the Gannett...
published a before-and-after analysis of ten redactions in the book.