Snowden leaks reveal how US spies spend US$52b a year
Snowden discloses US' 'black budget', showing the intelligence colossus built since 9/11 but one with some surprising gaps in its knowledge
US spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of September 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats, according to the government's top secret budget.
The US$52.6 billion "black budget" for the 2013 financial year, obtained by from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, maps a bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny.
Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending since 2007, it has not divulged how it uses those funds or how it performs against the goals set by the president and Congress.
The 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Programme details the successes, failures and objectives of the 16 spy agencies that make up the US intelligence community, which has 107,035 employees.
The summary describes cutting-edge technologies, agent recruiting and ongoing operations.
"The United States has made a considerable investment in the intelligence community since the terror attacks of 9/11, a time which includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab spring, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technology, and asymmetric threats in such areas as cyberwarfare," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in response to inquiries.
"Our budgets are classified as they could provide insight for foreign intelligence services to discern our top national priorities, capabilities and sources and methods that allow us to obtain information to counter threats," he said.
