This Friday’s inflation (CPI) report could change the Fed’s September decision. Here’s what I’ll be watching. On today’s live “Trends & Profits” webcast, I spent some time discussing this Friday’s CPI report, which could tip the Fed toward a...
Latest leaked NSA document reveals never-before-seen taxpayer-funded “black” budget for America’s 16 spy agencies.
(FTMDaily.com) – For the last few months, Americans have been assaulted on virtually all fronts with explosive information based upon leaked NSA documents provided to several international media outlets by former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden. Despite some recent Congressional attempts to defund the NSA’s obvious overreach, the Obama administration, as well as the top leadership in both the House and the Senate, continues to point the finger at Edward Snowden instead of at themselves. Perhaps they believe the American public are too ignorant to connect the dots. And perhaps they are right.
Now, the latest bombshell report based upon the leaked NSA documents reveal a top secret budget of America’s intelligence community, composed of 16 spy agencies and over 107,000 employees. Until now, taxpayer-funded spending on America’s myriad of intelligence agencies has never been held to public scrutiny.
Put simply, those who finance America’s growing surveillance state — namely, you, the U.S. taxpayer — have never been able to see how the money is being spent.
That is, until now…
The Washington Post, who broke the story on August 29, provided limited details from a 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Program.
You can read the entire report here and view an interesting interactive presentation about this top secret black budget here.
A Few Highlights
Here are a few revelations that I found noteworthy from my reading of the leaked documents.
- The CIA boasts the largest intelligence budget with nearly $15 billion requested in top secret funding for FY 2013. This is contrary to what most experts have long believed. I am sure many are surprised that the CIA budget requests are nearly 50% higher than that of the NSA.
- U.S. Intelligence officials have been heavily engaged in launching major offensive cyber attacks on foreign computer systems with a goal of stealing private data and sabotaging entire networks.. Of course, the Obama administration and the corporate-controlled media have been abuzz about the immense capabilities of hackers in North Korea, Russia, China, etc. But it is the U.S. that outhacks them all. And you, the taxpayer, are financing it.
- The document explains that U.S. counterintelligence operations “are strategically focused against [the] priority targets of China, Russia, Iran, Cuba and Israel.”
Israel?
Yes, Israel. If the Snowden leaks have taught us anything about U.S. relations with Israel, it is that a large amount of mutual distrust and suspicion pervades the relationship.
Below is a quick chart showing the top five U.S. Intelligence Agencies, based upon their 2013 budget requests.
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Organization | Role | FY 2013 Budget | % Growth Since 2004 |
| Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) | Collect, analyze, evaluate, disseminate foreign intelligence and conduct covert operations. | $14.7 Billion | +56% |
| National Security Agency (NSA) | Protect the government’s information systems and intercept foreign signals intelligence information. | $10.8 Billion | +53% |
| National Reconnaissance Office | Design, build, and operate the nation’s signals and imagery reconnaissance satellites. | $10.3 Billion | +12% |
| National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency | Generate and provide imagery and map-based intelligence, which is used for national security, U.S. military operations, navigation and humanitarian aid efforts. | $4.9 Billion | +108% |
| General Defense Intelligence Program | Provide assessments of foreign military intentions and capabilities to policymakers and military commanders. Conduct human and technical intelligence collection, document and media management. | $4.4 Billion | +3% |
| Source: Washington Post | |||
