The 9/11 Commission

Within the covert imaginary state secrecy is typically represented through references to barriers and boundaries and in a frame that juxtaposes secrecy and publicity. A more useful depiction might be in terms of the devices and processes by which flows of information are managed. This argument is developed in this chapter, which looks at the 9/11 Commission, the public inquiry tasked with making sense of the events of September 11. Rather than see publicity and secrecy as logically opposed practices, the chapter develops a concept of devices of dis/closure to explore how closure and disclosure work in tandem and in a mutually constitutive relationship within the public inquiry. The chapter also offers a general argument that public inquiries are a promising focus for secrecy research, not just as sources of data but opportunities to observe practices of secrecy in action.