POLITICS: U.S. Intelligence Budget Leaked - $44b

The United States intelligence budget of $44 billion was accidentally "let slip" by a top American intelligence official at an intelligence conference in San Antonio. The CIA has gone to court multiple times to defend the classified nature of the figure which has only ever been released, under legal duress, for 1997 and 1998.



Well, no surprises I guess. Amusing that a 27-year veteran of the CIA would be the one to let the cat out of the bag, particularly after the CIA has fought so tenaciously to keep the figure secret.

I can't think of any solid reason why the figure should remain secret, apart from protecting the community itself - a community which seems to have become almost a completely seperate entity from the US government, free from authentic scrutiny and oversight.

Now if the black budget figures were revealed, that would truly be interesting.

Related News Links:
www.sfgate.com

That's a hefty and substantial amount of tax-dollars allocated towards such an organization which has proven quite onerous over the decades depending on situation. I wonder if there will be any legal ramnifications against this women, and if not, exactly what are the implications of releasing such classified information?

Maybe the budget has been tight kept due to this agencies failure over this last decade as relatively stated by many in regards to terrorist attacks; and if it is, then due to reasons that would not allow the American public to dissuade thier personal finances being allocated towards an organization that failed them.

Interesting scenerio.

Luxifero

[edit on 8-11-2005 by Luxifero]

Probably spent a wad on those secret prisons and then on 'destroying' said secret prisons (what prisons?).

To be more serious on the matter, I would have expected the amount to be much higher considering the amount the US spends on its military might.

I think that the main issue for the CIA is that they need to gather more intel by low tech means rather than spending huge amounts on high tech when you consider the Middle East in terms of their social make-up.

And lets not forget that China is slowly sneaking up behind when your (US) not looking too. Pass me the big spoon please.



[edit on 8-11-2005 by freeradical]

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace

Now if the black budget figures were revealed, that would truly be interesting.

Maybe the $44 billion is for toilet seats and hammers?


Though I guess theres nothing wrong with knowing how many $$ they get, the problem as the article says is when people want to know what it gets spent on.

$44bn? That's an awful lot of money for an intelligence outfit that cannot prevent a 9/11, embassy bombings or federal building bombing and instead chooses to pass up Vissili Mitrokhin.

Bloody nora! Thats about the same as the entire UK defence budget!

Look at it from this way, the CIA needs the extra cash so that they can continue their Bush smear campaigns or undermining the Bush administration?

No, not surprising at all that after all the years of the CIA, that its elite and secretive members are, and have been, revealing such secretive factoids.

IMHO, slash their budget and put a whole load of these type CIA people on the unemployment line(s).





seekerof

[edit on 8-11-2005 by Seekerof]

thats there yearly budget? wow

Originally posted by Frosty
$44bn? That's an awful lot of money for an intelligence outfit that cannot prevent a 9/11, embassy bombings or federal building bombing and instead chooses to pass up Vissili Mitrokhin.

I see it the other way around, maybe $44 billion is not enough. Had it been in the $100 billion range, the CIA may could of prevented 9/11... ext....

I think intelligence budget should be kept secret for there are ways of the enemy seeing where the money is spent.

I spent $44,000,000,000 and all I got was this lousy picture:

Originally posted by XPhiles
I see it the other way around, maybe $44 billion is not enough. Had it been in the $100 billion range, the CIA may could of prevented 9/11... ext....

That's a poor arguement. Where do you draw the line? When the budget it so high you know every action everyone does?

I'd rather not live in that Society and take my chance.

Originally posted by XPhiles
I think intelligence budget should be kept secret for there are ways of the enemy seeing where the money is spent.

They have displayed how much is spent, we do not know where it is spent. Nobody but the 'Big Boss' himself does. So either they have people inside who would feed this information back [which is a much larger problem] or they will never get it.

Originally posted by XPhiles
I see it the other way around, maybe $44 billion is not enough. Had it been in the $100 billion range, the CIA may could of prevented 9/11... ext....

That's a poor arguement. Where do you draw the line? When the budget it so high you know every action everyone does?

I'd rather not live in that Society and take my chance.

Originally posted by XPhiles
I think intelligence budget should be kept secret for there are ways of the enemy seeing where the money is spent.

They have displayed how much is spent, we do not know where it is spent. Nobody but the 'Big Boss' himself does. So either they have people inside who would feed this information back [which is a much larger problem] or they will never get it.

What keeps running thru my mind is... what better way to spread disinfo?

Its perfect.

I mean come on.

Would a 27 year vet, the deputy director of national intelligence for collection, really make that kind of statement in public? By "accident"


Please

Whenever a magician makes an unexpected flourish with one hand, the canny observer knows to watch what he's doing with the other.

I don't think there's any way that a 27 year intelligence agency veteran would accidentally let slip a number that the CIA has repeatedly gone to court to hide. It had to be deliberate.

I just wonder what it is that they hope to gain. Right off the top of my head, it seems possible that they hope that the fact that the stated budget is so close to the estimated budget will lead us to believe the estimate in the future and stop asking for the true number.

Well even though $44b is a lot of money, remember that they do their ops ovrseas. Not cheap. They have to practically rebuild their hum-int from scratch after 2000, and that complex in Mc Lean isn't cheap. $44b...yeah, they'll be dipping into the black budgets around May of any given year.

The figure itself comes as no great shock; most news reports in the last couple of years have estimated the budget at $40 billion. But the fact that Ms. Graham would say it in public is a surprise, because the government has repeatedly gone to court to keep the current intelligence budget and even past budgets as far back as the 1940's from being disclosed

Then why beleive that its accurate? This guy referenced it in a public lecture, almost in an off-handed 'btw' way. So why beleive it? Merely because it matches what most people think it is??

$44 billion dollars later, not only have they not caught Osama Bin Laden, they dont have a clue where he is. Please stop making excuses for these lame intelligence agencies and there phony manufactured war on terrorism.