A Ball State University professor made it clear that "political toes may be stepped on" while discussing government secrecy Wednesday during the first event of Sunshine Week.
The panel discussion, entitled "Are We Really Safer in the Dark?" was moderated by Ball State professor Phil Bremen.
The panel included Doug Garrison, WISH-TV I-Team manager & former FBI agent; Ryan Nees, a 16-year-old sophomore who won a legal battle with the mayor of Kokomo; and Ball State professors Barry Umansky and Larry Riley.
Garrison discussed a story about a time when he was an FBI officer, and he and a few other agents were in charge of finding out whether students in Bloomington were involved in terrorist activities.
A misquote from Garrison was printed in the Bloomington Herald-Times after they heard that FBI agents were in Bloomington and approached Garrison about if they were surveilling people in the area.
Although the students were not committing terrorist actions, the misquote allowed people to become uneasy. Many Bloomington residents began to believe they were the ones under surveillance.
Garrison said he believed government had a right to hold some information from the public.
"Sometimes the public cannot be aware of what the government is doing because in some cases, they can not do their job effectively enough, such as in this case," Garrison said.
Nees explained his experience with battling the mayor of Kokomo, Matt McKillip. Nees received unsolicited e-mails from political campaigns and didn't think it was fair that his e-mail was accessible to the public, he said.
Governor Mitch Daniels passed a law recently to exempt e-mails from public record. The law was passed after Nees' battle with McKillip.
"Everyone was so supportive for the most part," Nees said "There were some remarks from teachers like, 'Are you going to sue me?' But for the most part, everyone was supportive."
Riley complimented Nees .
"I am in awe of [Nees]," Riley said. "To be so young and to have accomplished something like this in such a short amount of time is quite an accomplishment."
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