Your Brain Hates Secrets and Will Force Them Out

“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” ― Benjamin Franklin

It was once a great honor to be a keeper of secrets. Those of us that played the game know all about Executive Order 13526, as well as seen our fair share of Standard Form (SF) 189s, SF 312s and other documents for which we can’t even make mention. Sure, the commercial sector also has a vast array of documents and threats but nothing beats the government sector for death by paperwork. If you need some sleep you should try 18 U.S. Code CHAPTER 37 - ESPIONAGE AND CENSORSHIP. That will have you out in minutes. Let’s not forget the fun-filled polygraph sessions – especially if you get a sexually twisted examiner. Funny how they will pick the most perverted questions just to see us prudish types squirm in the chair. Once you make it through all of this nonsense, you get the standard security briefing meant to instill the fear of God into you for even thinking about doing something wrong. It usually goes something like: “if we even think you are doing something wrong, we will throw you in jail, then throw away the jail”. No, I’m not joking. I was actually threatened with this very speech.

One endures all the above nonsense for the belief they are doing what must be done to protect your country and loved ones. God and country are continually thrown in our faces just to make sure we are focused on the goal of every program. Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer in secrets. I’m just saying, many people made it through that complex fear circus and the leakage of classified information is more prevalent than ever. We even had the opportunity to witness our elected officials publicly boast about leaking classified data (on international news) with no remorse and no repercussions. This has been going on for many years. I remember being sent to Taiwan as part of a joint defense program. While on tour of a Chinese engineering facility, I saw what I knew to be a classified system. Enraged, I demanded to know where they got access to these systems. In broken English, the Chinese general said: “front door of White House” with a big smile.

Types of Secrets

Let’s talk about the types of secrets for a moment. I’m sure none of you reading this article would debate the fact that all entities deserve the right to have secrets. Families have secrets and deserve to keep their private lives to themselves. I do find it hypocritical that folks like Mark Zuckerberg publicly profess that “privacy was no longer a social norm” (The Guardian, 2010), then buy all the houses on their block to maintain a buffer for privacy around their own home. Companies also have a vast array of secrets. We call that intellectual property and many other fancy names, but they are just secrets none the less. Governments have many, many secrets. Not all of them are good. Again, one only needs to search the recent news articles to see our nation’s dirt on parade. While grandma’s dark past might make good reading, I’d like to focus the balance of this article on the dirty side of the burden of those entrusted with the deepest darkest secrets of corporations and governments.

Some Secrets Kill

Research suggests that the keeping of small secrets helps people develop individuality from the group, establish a sense of one’s self and many other beneficial behaviors. Conversely, the keeping of big, dark secrets actually impacts one’s health. Neuroscientists now understand that the keeping of big, dark secrets set up a battle inside your brain. This battle plays out in your brain's orbital prefrontal cortex. The cingulate cortex ramps up hormone production, blood pressure and a whole host of other actions detrimental to your health (Roberts-Grey, 2013). The entire drama plays out between the subconscious and conscious functions as a way to purge the stress of keeping secrets out of the brain. Another tool in the brain’s arsenal is that of Ironic Rebound. In the midst of the emotional warfare raging inside your brain, deliberate secret suppression efforts actually force the secret (and its possible negative side effects) to remain in the conscious memory – rebounding over and over until it is purged (Wegner, 1994). Now I’m not saying there aren’t ways to suppress secrets, I’m just saying that your brain is naturally hardwired to tell the truth. Putting your brain in any other scenario causes it stress.

Snowden Paradox

Now let’s go to the extreme outlier of the dirty secret scenario. You are put in a position of trust (sometimes by force) and told to keep the most horrific secrets. Secrets like murder, treason, or any other horrible act. You turn to your designated safety network only to find no support and no way out. Worse yet, you find that your designated lifeline (President, CEO, HR, Legal, or FBI for example) were complicit in the act. Now you have a battle raging in your head and no authorized way to disclose the issue. Now, I’m not saying I agree with Snowden’s course of action (as details of classified defense technology should never be publicly available), but I understand the position. I devoted an entire book in the series to showcase dirty agencies, leaders and other corporate acts. I could show you the very hotel in Crystal City where certain agencies trade sexual favors for promotion upgrades or favorable merit reviews. The disclosure of which only resulted in a pat on the head and the revocation of a contract to the whistleblower. The guilty offenders continue to this day.

The recent arrest of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is a prime example of the system attacking the last option of the whistleblower. Did WikiLeaks make some mistakes in disclosures? I’m sure they did, but why did they become the only option left for the whistleblower? The “Me Too” movement is another example of the breaking point where the brain simply needs the pain of sexual violence out. A point where the victims would rather endure the external scrutiny of total strangers over their mind and body’s internal battle to try and restore peace.

Call to Action

We now know that the keeping of secrets is painful to our brains. This is a pain the brain is hardwired to purge. This need to purge accounts for the huge increase in leakage of our government’s dirty secrets. A better strategy (mentally) is to never accept the secrets at all. That being said, we know we must be diligent keepers of secrets for those things that truly matter (back to the God and country thing). I am a firm believer in keeping those secrets for which I was entrusted. I also believe we must have accountability for purging the evil from our government, companies and lives.

I will be so bold as to ask two things of you. First, do not sit idle and allow your fellow coworkers to suffer in silence. The level of corruption is rising in the US. We have too many dirty secrets. Our ranking by Transparency International (2019) dropped again by 4 points, pushing the US out of the top 20 countries. Take an active stance in pushing the corruption out of our country. Don’t be a keeper of dirty secrets. Second, as a means of peer review, I’ve turned to the LinkedIn community for your input. How do we establish a safe means of purging the dirty secrets without compromising national security? How would you prevent another Edward Snowden or Bradley Manning incident? There must be a safe way for individuals in trust to bypass the corruption inside their firewalls and bring bad things into the light. I look forward to your ideas.

“Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.” ― André Malraux

About the Author

Robert L. Fioto II is the Finance Minister for small indigenous tribes - investigating and recovering their stolen assets. He also served as coach, mentor and Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt for numerous government and corporate leaders worldwide. This LinkedIn article was shared as part of the collaborative process for his upcoming book series on Financial Terrorism.