held close/closed

Question

At 1:02 of the video below, the reporter says:
"A former top CIA official says some of the details were held close/closed."

And then, the former CIA official says:
"Those who needed to know were absolutely brought in and made parties to the conspiracy."

(1) Is it "close" or "closed"? And what does "held close/closed" mean"?

(2) Why would he call it the "conspiracy", which necessarily implies a negative meaning? Especially, when he was sort of arguing that they made sure that what they were doing was legal? (at 1:18)

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

listenever(1) Is it "close" or "closed"? And what does "held close/closed" mean"?

hold close (to the chest) = keep it secret

listenever(2) Why would he call it the "conspiracy", which necessarily implies a negative meaning?

He called it what it was.

Listenever · Answer

AlpheccaStarshold close (to the chest) = keep it secret

Thank you for your answer.

But I'm sort of confused.

If "some of the details were held close" means that they were kept secret, why would the reporter, right after she says that, insert the former CIA official's interview where he said, "Those who needed to know were absolutely brought in and made parties to the conspiracy."? Which statement was not about keeping them secret but about letting some people know of "some of the details".

AlpheccaStars · Answer

listeneverIf "some of the details were held close" means that they were kept secret, why would the reporter, right after she says that, insert the former CIA official's interview where he said, "Those who needed to know were absolutely brought in and made parties to the conspiracy."? Which statement was not about keeping them secret but about letting some people know of "some of the details".

The government has different levels of security.
With an extensive background check, someone can get a "top secret" security clearance.
Even with a "top secret" clearance, only those people with a "need to know" are included in the information sharing.
These specially selected people were in the inner circle, which the FORMER CIA official called "the conspiracy." The ex-CIA official might have been the disgruntled one, labeling this group "conspiracy."

Listenever · Answer

Thanks.

At 1:58, the reporter says:
Internal CIA records called Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's waterboarding 183 times "a series of near drownings"

Syntactically, is "waterboarding" a cross between a noun and a gerund, noun being modified by the possessive case ('s) and gerund by the adjunct "183 times"?

Also, why isn't it "being waterboarded" instead of "waterboarding"? Is it possible to use the former instead of the latter?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

listeneverSyntactically, is "waterboarding" a cross between a noun and a gerund, noun being modified by the possessive case ('s) and gerund by the adjunct "183 times"?

"waterboarding" is a newly coined word from 2005 (a noun). It is a form of torture using water. The grammatical usage is just as new, so you might see different variations.

Waterboard is an old nautical term (also a noun): http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Waterboard

Listenever · Answer

Thanks.

Could you please at least confirm if my understanding is correct?

In "call A B" construction, A here is "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's waterboarding 183 times", and B is "a series of near drownings", right??

Anonymous · Answer

"Held close" is an abbreviation of the expression "held close to the chest" which means to keep secret from others. The expression comes from Poker players holding their cards close to their chests.

Anonymous · Answer

He may have miss-spoke when he use the word "conspiracy". Perhaps he mean't to say "controversy".

Anonymous · Answer

SOME people were informed---the information was held close from MOST people.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

listeneverIn "call A B" construction, A here is "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's waterboarding 183 times", and B is "a series of near drownings", right??

Yes.

held close/closed

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