Senate Bill Would Require Intelligence Budget Disclosure

[acmejack]

Public disclosure of intelligence budget data would be required under a
provision of the 2007 Intelligence Authorization Act that was reported
by the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday and disclosed today.

The total amounts authorized and appropriated for the National
Intelligence Program would be publicly disclosed each year starting in
2007, the Senate bill states.

After 2007, the bill would also require the President to disclose the
aggregate amount requested each year for national intelligence.

The budget disclosure provision was proposed by Senator Ron Wyden
(D-OR) and approved yesterday by the Senate Intelligence Committee on a
9-6 vote. All Democrats on the Committee supported the move, as did
Republican Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Chuck Hagel
(R-Nebraska). Other Republicans, including Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS),
opposed it.

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

[High Plains]

1. Good. The intelligence budget has been a black hole for decades.

I'd guess it's somewhere around $30-40 billiion a year. Not chump change.