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The U.S. has been doing it wrong by marking millions of documents as secrets . These documents need to be open for everyone to see in order to have a firm democracy . According to Bill Quigley, ˜Transparency and accountability are essential elements of good government. Likewise, "a lack of government transparency and accountability undermines democracy and gives rise to cynicism and mistrust," according to a 2008 Harris survey commissioned by the Association of Government Accountants.' This shows the government shouldn't be keeping secrets from its citizens but it should share what they are doing with them. Transparency between the government and its people is key to have a strong and successful democracy.
Popular sites, newspapers, and data bases post information gained from wikileaks . According to The Wire, in 2011, nearly half of New York Times issues rely on wikileaks . This proving that topics discussed across America are provided by wikileaks . These issues are often regarding the government in some way, and what they are secretly doing that could possibly be unconstitutional . Americans benefit from this with the fact that we are learning what the government is secretly doing behind our backs . Even if we cannot take action and do something about these acts we at least gain the knowledge of what they are doing and how they are doing it .
Major U.S. file leak took place in 2010 from an American soldier. According to her website, Chelsea Manning (Bradley Manning) is responsible for leaking 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables, and 500,000 army reports to Julian Assange the founder of wikileaks . She was sentenced to 35 years confinement for violating the Espionage Act . In 2014 Manning received the Sam Adams Integrity Prize . She was awarded this for "casting much-needed daylight on the true toll and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq; human rights abuses by U.S. and "coalition " forces, mercenaries, and contractors; and the roles that spying and bribery play in international diplomacy.