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| U.S. spy network’s successes, failures and objectives detailed in ‘black budget’ summary |
| 2013-08-30 |
| [WAPO] U.S. spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats, according to the government’s top-secret budget. The $52.6 billion “black budget” for fiscal 2013, obtained by The Washington Post from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowdenski, maps a bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny. Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending since 2007, it has not divulged how it uses the money or how it performs against the goals set by the president and Congress. The 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Program details the successes, failures and objectives of the 16 spy agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, which has 107,035 employees. The summary describes cutting-edge technologies, agent recruiting and ongoing operations. The Post is withholding some information after consultation with U.S. officials who expressed concerns about the risk to intelligence sources and methods. Sensitive details are so pervasive in the documents that The Post is publishing only summary tables and charts online. “The United States has made a considerable investment in the Intelligence Community since the terror attacks of 9/11, a time which includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technology, and asymmetric threats in such areas as cyber-warfare,” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. wrote in response to inquiries from The Post. “Our budgets are classified as they could provide insight for foreign intelligence services to discern our top national priorities, capabilities and sources and methods that allow us to obtain information to counter threats,” he said. Very, very damaging. Time to clean houses and call for resignations, starting with the DNI. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #3 When long-term trend analysis, indications & warning, and critical thinking were pushed aside, and analysts become PPT daily briefing slaves in support of our politically motivated seniors, we knew there would be a downside. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-08-30 05:44 |
| #2 And I've been calling for a dismantling of the IC here for years. It needs to be severed and reassembled, more tightly organized for ops, and better integrated for analysts |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2013-08-30 00:52 |
| #1 Pointing too much of it inside our borders instead of out. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2013-08-30 00:51 |