An article on The Register's website highlights some of the dangers of government secrecy. It is here.
It says that government secrecy over deals with the private sector can be "self-defeating, and creates a culture of laxity where officials can make mistakes or abuse their power with impunity".
The article draws attention to a paper published in the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal which explains some of the events that led subsequently to an avoidance in Australia of the use of the commercial-in-confidence excuse so beloved in Whitehall.
If the article hadn't mentioned Australia we'd probably have thought it was referring to Whitehall.