Official Reveals Budget for U.S. Intelligence

[billbuckhead]

Official Reveals Budget for U.S. Intelligence
By SCOTT SHANE

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 - In an apparent slip, a top American intelligence official has revealed at a public conference what has long been secret: the amount of money the United States spends on its spy agencies.

At an intelligence conference in San Antonio last week, Mary Margaret Graham, a 27-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency and now the deputy director of national intelligence for collection, said the annual intelligence budget was $44 billion.

The number was reported Monday in U.S. News and World Report, whose national security reporter, Kevin Whitelaw, was among the hundreds of people in attendance during Ms. Graham's talk.

"I thought, 'I can't believe she said that,' " Mr. Whitelaw said on Monday. "The government has spent so much time and energy arguing that it needs to remain classified."
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<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/08/politics/08budget.html?ei=5088&en=2a24b4748fddeba6&ex=1289106000&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print>

[callady]

1. This is one aspect of Military "Black Budget"

US military spending is between $800-900 billion per annum.

[Double T]

2. Does anyone see something wrong with spending this much on intelligence?

intelligence that often times is anything but. This is a great place to start cutting the budget.