06-10-2013, 04:39 PM
It's SOP (standard operating procedure) everywhere in the military, intelligence agencies, defense industry (and the Mafia, incidentally) - the "need to know." People follow orders, and they understand that they won't be allowed to see the whole picture - they can only read the files they have a reason to access, they can only talk to the people they need to talk to. This is mostly to maintain security, also to insulate higher-ups if people lower down on the food chain start to talk. They know only a smart part of the picture, and can only implicate the few people they are in contact with.
The Manhattan Project was run this way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project#Secrecy
A 1945 Life article estimated that before the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings "[p]robably no more than a few dozen men in the entire country knew the full meaning of the Manhattan Project, and perhaps only a thousand others even were aware that work on atoms was involved." The magazine wrote that the more than 100,000 others employed with the project "worked like moles in the dark". Warned that disclosing the project's secrets was punishable by 10 years in prison or a $10,000 ($128,000 today[SUP][1][/SUP]) fine, they saw enormous quantities of raw materials enter factories with nothing coming out, and monitored "dials and switches while behind thick concrete walls mysterious reactions took place" without knowing the purpose of their jobs.[SUP][229][/SUP][SUP][230][/SUP][SUP][231][/SUP][SUP][232][/SUP]
Everyone, including top military officials, and their automobiles were searched when entering and exiting project facilities. One Oak Ridge worker stated that "if you got inquisitive, you were called on the carpet within two hours by government secret agents. Usually those summoned to explain were then escorted bag and baggage to the gate and ordered to keep going." Nonetheless, despite being told that their work would help end the war and perhaps all future wars,[SUP][233][/SUP] not seeing or understanding the results of their often tedious dutiesor even typical side effects of factory work such as smoke from smokestacksand the war in Europe ending without the use of their work, caused serious morale problems among workers and caused many rumors to spread. One manager stated after the war:[SUP][232][/SUP]
The Manhattan Project was run this way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project#Secrecy
A 1945 Life article estimated that before the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings "[p]robably no more than a few dozen men in the entire country knew the full meaning of the Manhattan Project, and perhaps only a thousand others even were aware that work on atoms was involved." The magazine wrote that the more than 100,000 others employed with the project "worked like moles in the dark". Warned that disclosing the project's secrets was punishable by 10 years in prison or a $10,000 ($128,000 today[SUP][1][/SUP]) fine, they saw enormous quantities of raw materials enter factories with nothing coming out, and monitored "dials and switches while behind thick concrete walls mysterious reactions took place" without knowing the purpose of their jobs.[SUP][229][/SUP][SUP][230][/SUP][SUP][231][/SUP][SUP][232][/SUP]
Everyone, including top military officials, and their automobiles were searched when entering and exiting project facilities. One Oak Ridge worker stated that "if you got inquisitive, you were called on the carpet within two hours by government secret agents. Usually those summoned to explain were then escorted bag and baggage to the gate and ordered to keep going." Nonetheless, despite being told that their work would help end the war and perhaps all future wars,[SUP][233][/SUP] not seeing or understanding the results of their often tedious dutiesor even typical side effects of factory work such as smoke from smokestacksand the war in Europe ending without the use of their work, caused serious morale problems among workers and caused many rumors to spread. One manager stated after the war:[SUP][232][/SUP]
Well it wasn't that the job was tough… it was confusing. You see, no one knew what was being made in Oak Ridge, not even me, and a lot of the people thought they were wasting their time here. It was up to me to explain to the dissatisfied workers that they were doing a very important job. When they asked me what, Id have to tell them it was a secret. But I almost went crazy myself trying to figure out what was going on.[SUP][232][/SUP]