The FY 2011 US intelligence budget tops $80 billion. Previously, annual intelligence budgets were not fully disclosed. The decision by the Obama Administration (specifically DNI Gen. James Clapper) to release this information brings welcome transparency to the intelligence and budget processes. In earlier testimony, Clapper stated his support for diclosing the intelligence budget by stating, “I think the American people are entitled to know the totality of the investment we make each year in intelligence.”
In a related move, the $53 million intelligence budget will soon no longer be buried in the Department of Defense budget. According to DNI Clapper, he and SecDef Robert Gates “secured a conceptual agreement” to remove the intellegence budget –which includes the CIA budget– from the defense budget. The $27 billion spend on military intelligence will remain in the DOD budget.
According to Steve Aftergood of Secrecy News, “Restructuring the budget so that spending for the National Intelligence Program is assigned to the Office of the DNI would not guarantee wise or effective intelligence policy. But it would remove a source of pointless obfuscation, and thereby strengthen oversight and accountability.”
Of course, the “Black Budget” will remain in effect. (more…)
