Fred Burks

Dear friends,

After working for 18 years as a language interpreter with the U.S. Department of State, I resigned last month because of a requirement to sign a new agreement which requires an excessive level secrecy.

For those who don't know, I served as an interpreter in the Indonesian language for Presidents G.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney, Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Madeline Albright, and many other top officials over the years in my work with the State Department.

The secrecy clause of the contract I refused to sign states interpreters "shall not communicate to any person or organization any information known to them by reason of their performance of services that has not been made public," unless written approval is obtained from our superiors. And this applies for the rest of our lives.

This means that if my itinerary has not been made public, I can't even tell my friends and family in what city and hotel I'm staying while I'm away. It means that if someone tells me a good joke while I'm working, I can never tell it to anyone unless it somehow is made public.

It means that even if I have heart-warming, inspiring experiences with my visitors (which I've had many), I would not be able to share them without written approval. I certainly understand the need for secrecy related to national security, but this level of secrecy is ridiculous.

This new contract sadly reflects the rampant secrecy which has been growing over recent years in government. Realizing that because of this growing trend my resignation might be of interest to the media, I sent an email to my press contacts, and received some good coverage.

You can read an article on my resignation on the Washington Post website on this webpage. If you cannot access the article at that link, I've downloaded the article on this webpage. You can also check out this article published in the Oakland Tribune.

If you are interested in reading some of the fascinating, revealing stories from my high-level interpreting, you can read an engaging summary I've complied. And for a short, inspiring story of the many little miracles that led me to interpret for presidents, see this webpage.

Though I am sad to leave this fascinating, enjoyable work, I am now free to focus even more of my time and energy on my deep commitment to personal and global transformation through love and empowerment. The websites I've founded and coordinate and these messages are manifestations of this deep commitment.

— Fred Burks