"We Can’t Just Give a Blank Check": Lawmakers Call for Ending Secrecy of U.S. Intel’s Black Budget

[n2doc]

We speak with Democratic Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont about a bipartisan bill that would force President Obama to include the total dollar amount requested for each of the 16 intelligence agencies in his budget proposal. Using documents leaked by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, The Washington Post has revealed the nation’s so-called "black budget" to be $53 billion, a 54 percent hike over the past decade. The documents also revealed the NSA is paying hundreds of millions of dollars a year to U.S. telephone and Internet companies for clandestine access to their communications networks. Welch has joined Republican Rep. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, a fellow member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, in co-sponsoring the Intelligence Budget Transparency Act. "If you are going to have any oversight whatsoever, you have to know what the budget is," Welch says.

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AARON MATÉ: We turn now to what’s known as the black budget. That’s the term for secret budgets of the nation’s 16 intelligence agencies, including the NSA and CIA. Last year, The Washington Post used documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to reveal the nation’s black budget to be $53 billion. The Post reported the CIA had received a 56 percent increase in its budget over the past decade, while the NSA got a 54 percent hike. The black budget also revealed the NSA is paying hundreds of millions of dollars a year to telephone and Internet companies for secret access to their communications networks.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, now a bipartisan push has begun on Capitol Hill to make parts of the black budget public. Democratic Congressmember Peter Welch of Vermont and Republican Congressmember Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, both members of the House Oversight [Subcommittee] on National Security, have co-written legislation to force the president to include the total dollar amount requested for each intelligence agency in his annual budget submission to Congress. The bill is called the Intelligence Budget Transparency Act. Congressmember Peter Welch joins us now from Capitol Hill.

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http://www.democracynow.org/2014/4/8/we_cant_just_give_a_blank

[tech3149]

1. Funding is a good place to start but it is only a start

The so called intelligence community has been rogue since its inception. There is not and has never been functional oversight. Those given the responsibility of oversight have no means of verifying that they are being presented full and accurate information to make an informed decision.
An intelligence operation should have NO operational capacity. The CIA broke that rule from day one. That in itself is the major contributor to disagreement and anger with respect to US foreign policy.

I didn't see today's Democracy Now but I applaud the efforts of anyone who tries to reign in the Frankenstein s monster that Truman and the MIC created.

[truedelphi]

2. Twenty years ago, my brain would not have warped into such considerations but

here is what my brain has considered in the last two weeks:

Malayasian Airliner goes down in area of world where our military has suspended most conventional radar tracking. Conveniently, the airliner went down right before budget appropriations were to take place, regarding an overall need to re-fund and take the old radar and surveillance programs out of moth balls and back into full activity.

Coincidence or not?

Again, twenty years ago, my brain would not have entertained such thinking. But lately, reading how Dick Cheney's company gained 39 billions of dollars from his lying the USA into war, well, it appears that there are men and women for whom death and destruction is just a calculated business decision about killing people in order to enrich one's pockets.

BTW, the conventional radar business is one of David Koch's specialty business areas!