McClatchy – Nukes & Spooks
February 15, 2011
$55 billion.
That's how much the Obama administration wants from Congress in FY 2012 for the National Intelligence Program, which funds civilian U.S. intelligence agencies and activities. It is the first time that any administration has ever made that request public.
"Any and all subsidiary information concerning the National Intelligence Program (NIP) budget, whether the information concerns particular intelligence agencies or particular intelligence programs, will not be disclosed," said a news release issued on Monday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The administration was required to make the FY 2012 NIP budget request public under a 2010 law, although President Barak Obama had the option of using a waiver to keep the figure secret.
Steven Aftergood, who runs the Project on Government Secrecy over at the Federation of American Scientists, hailed the disclosure as "a new milestone in the 'normalization' of intelligence budgeting."
Tweet