FAS | Intelligence | News | 2007 ||||

Newer News: July 2007

June 2007 Intelligence News

• Analysis: Intel Spending and Contractors by Shaun Waterman, United Press International, June 27. "A series of recent presentations by senior procurement officials in U.S. intelligence agencies shows that the proportion of their secret budget spent in the private sector has ballooned after Sept. 11, 2001 -- and could rise as high as 70 percent."
• Fight Over Secret Satellite Program Is Revived by Tim Starks, Congressional Quarterly, June 21. "At a June 19 conference, McConnell told the audience that one piece of advice he had received upon taking the job this year was to 'kill a multibillion dollar program. I�ve done that, but word isn�t out yet.' He did not answer a reporter�s question about which program he had killed."
• ODNI Disputes Reports of Inadvertent Disclosure of Intelligence Budget Data, June 19. "As explained during the presentation, the specific bar graphs on the slides and their underlying data were based on a small, anecdotal sample of a portion of Intelligence Community contracting activities. As a result, this data cannot be used to derive either the overall Intelligence Community budget, or a breakdown of any portion of the budget."
• U.S. Intel Budget May Reach $60 Billion by Shaun Waterman, United Press International, June 11. "The secret budget for U.S. intelligence is much higher than previously thought, perhaps as much as $60 billion, according to the extrapolation of figures inadvertently left buried in a computerized government slideshow."
• Spy Central Slip-Up by Bonnie Goldstein, Slate, June 8. "A PowerPoint presentation blurts out the secret intelligence budget."
• Intel budget numbers revealed on public PowerPoint slide show by Daniel Friedman, Federal Times, June 7. "Secret budget numbers apparently included accidentally within a public PowerPoint presentation may point to a widely-sought number: the annual U.S. intelligence budget."
• Intel Budget May be Buried in Powerpoint by Laura Heaton, United Press International, June 6. "The U.S. intelligence budget may be as much as $60 billion, according to figures that slipped out in a government PowerPoint presentation."
• Senators Fault IC on Use of Contractors by Laura Heaton, United Press International, June 6. "Private contractors are winning increasing numbers of U.S. intelligence projects, prompting U.S. senators to rethink their oversight role."
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence: Proposed Regulation on FOIA Policy, Federal Register, June 4. "This proposed regulation will provide the public the guidelines under which the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will implement the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552."
• The corporate takeover of U.S. intelligence by Tim Shorrock, Salon, June 1. "The U.S. government now outsources a vast portion of its spying operations to private firms -- with zero public accountability."
• US Experts Say Torture Is Outmoded and Unreliable by Barbara Ferguson, Arab News, June 1. "A group of experts, commissioned by the Intelligence Science Board, released a 325-page report Wednesday critical of the techniques used by interrogators since the United States was attacked by terrorists nearly six years ago, and finds there may be no value to coercive techniques."