Salon: U.S. government now outsources a vast portion of its spying operations to private firms

[sabra]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/06/01/intel_contractors/

The corporate takeover of U.S. intelligence

The U.S. government now outsources a vast portion of its spying operations to private firms -- with zero public accountability.

<snip>

On May 14, at an industry conference in Colorado sponsored by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the U.S. government revealed for the first time how much of its classified intelligence budget is spent on private contracts: a whopping 70 percent, or roughly $42 billion. The figure was disclosed by Terri Everett, a senior procurement executive in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the agency established by Congress in 2004 to oversee the 16 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence infrastructure. A copy of Everett's unclassified PowerPoint slide presentation, titled "Procuring the Future" and dated May 25, was obtained by Salon. (It has since become available on the DIA's Web site.) "We can't spy ... If we can't buy!" one of the slides proclaims, underscoring the enormous dependence of U.S. intelligence agencies on private sector contracts.

The DNI figures show that the aggregate number of private contracts awarded by intelligence agencies rose by about 38 percent from the mid-1990s to 2005. But the surge in outsourcing has been far more dramatic measured in dollars: Over the same period of time, the total value of intelligence contracts more than doubled, from about $18 billion in 1995 to $42 billion in 2005.

"Those numbers are startling," said Steven Aftergood, the director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists and an expert on the U.S. intelligence budget. "They represent a transformation of the Cold War intelligence bureaucracy into something new and different that is literally dominated by contractor interests."

Because of the cloak of secrecy thrown over the intelligence budgets, there is no way for the American public, or even much of Congress, to know how those contractors are getting the money, what they are doing with it, or how effectively they are using it. The explosion in outsourcing has taken place against a backdrop of intelligence failures for which the Bush administration has been hammered by critics, from Saddam Hussein's fictional weapons of mass destruction to abusive interrogations that have involved employees of private contractors operating in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Aftergood and other experts also warn that the lack of transparency creates conditions ripe for corruption.

[rudy23]

1. At some point, to justify all this money they're getting, they've got to have some warm bodies

to show for all their work. Agencies that have no responsibility to uphold the Constitution (not like our current government does).

[liberal N proud]

2. This country is becoming one big f$%ing joke

[indepat]

7. Your assessment will reach full fruition if the dollar is looked upon as one big f$%ing

joke in world trade: the dollar's down only some 25%-35% during this current 'puke reign of burgeoning twin deficits, but watch out when the real fun begins.

[cyberpj]

3. Contractors who will eventually be willing to SELL TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER. nt

[elehhhhna]

6. ding ding you win. NO KIDDING.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Old news. "Reinventing Government." Remember the bombing the Chinese Embassy fracas?

Layers of private contractors' maps.

[zippy890]

5. kick

this is scary

[moondust]

8. What a really bad idea.

You think fixing the intelligence to fit the policy is bad under Bush/Cheney...well, add the profit motive and see what you get...

[leftchick]

9. Blackwater has a very cool new spy "airship"

:scared:



Airships

Blackwater Airships LLC was established in January 2006 as the newest Blackwater venture -- with a mission to build a remotely piloted airship vehicle (RPAV). Although seemingly different from the traditional Blackwater mission, this new venture to provide a persistent surveillance capability is fully consistent with the Blackwater goal of offering solutions which help to protect our forces wherever they are deployed and support our homeland security.

The Blackwater Airships team completed design work at the end of 2006 and is now building the Polar 400 airship. This highly capable RPAV will provide a platform ready to accomodate a wide variety of state-of-the-art surveillance, communications and detection equipment that can record and store events and downlink them in real-time to ground operators. The make-up of the mission payload of up to 400 lbs will be determined by customer requirements -- whether for combat areas, port or border security, or coastal patrol.

The prototype Polar 400 is completing propulsion ground tests and when fully assembled will undergo test flights and then move into production by mid-year 2007. Following successful demonstration flights, Blackwater Airships will begin selling or leasing airships to Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and other government customers. The Polar 400 is designed to operate for 48 to 60 hours at altitudes from 5,000 to 15,000 feet. The unique design of the RPAV propulsion system will give it the capability to loiter over a desired location with excellent low-speed maneuverability, along with an ability to fly at up to 50 knots to move quickly to and from a target area.