Concealing Atrocity Crimes with Official Secrecy: “National Security” as a Threat to International Security

This article uses a comparative history method to examine criminal state secrecy in closed authoritarian societies and open democratic societies. Focusing on how government secrecy is employed to conceal atrocity crimes, this article compares the legal, policy, and normative tools that state actors use to hide inhumane conduct and escape accountability for serious violations of international law. Observed outcomes for atrocity whistleblowers and the international criminal justice process are also examined. In describing the deleterious impact that secrecy can have for international justice efforts, this article proposes that the invocation of “national security” in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide cases is in foundational tension with species-level international security concerns.