How a sunken nuclear submarine, a crazy billionaire, and a mechanical claw gave birth to a phrase that has hounded journalists and lawyers for 40 years and embodies the tension between the public’s desire for transparency and the government’s need to keep secrets.
Radiolab rarely disappoints, however this recent episode was pretty amazing. It tells the story of the origin of the “Neither Confirm Nor Deny” (aka Glomar) response that government agencies give to freedom of information requests.
Worth a listen.
It's always more complicated 