Government officials who conceal information without a compelling reason are thereby guilty of an abuse of power. Government officials should keep information secret only if doing so does not make it easier for those officials to abuse their power. A government official who justifiably keeps a secret should not conceal its existence without having a compelling reason to do so. In most cases in which government officials conceal information from the public, they are not justified in doing so.
Any government practice that might facilitate the abuse of power should not be undertaken except in cases in which there is a compelling reason to do so. The keeping of government secrets is one such practice. Though government officials are sometimes justified in keeping secrets, too often they keep secrets for insubstantial reasons, and in so doing they wind up enabling abuses of power. When government officials conceal from the public the very fact that they are keeping a secret, this practice opens up even greater opportunity for abuse.
Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the statements above?