The Center's "Baltimore Sun" op-ed on the
long fight for CIA budget declassification. (By: Duncan Levin)
CIA Budget Disclosure ||| Government Secrecy | CNSS Home Page
INTELLIGENCE BUDGET: $26.6 BILLION
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Center for National Security Studies, Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet agreed today to release the amount the U.S. spends each year on its intelligence agencies. The so-called black budget for 1997 was $26.6 billion.
The Center for National Security Studies was representing Steve Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists in the lawsuit.
"The CIA could not defend its withholding of the budget figure in court, so it finally released it," said Kate Martin, counsel in the case and Director of the Center for National Security Studies, a D.C.-based advocacy group working for better oversight and accountability of the intelligence agencies.
"Ever since President Clinton and then-CIA director John Deutch announced in April 1996 that disclosure of the budget figure would not 'harm intelligence activities,' the CIA has been violating the law," Ms. Martin explained.
The Freedom of Information Act requires release of information whose disclosure would not be harmful. After President Clinton's announcement in April 1996, Mr. Aftergood made a request for the budget figure under the FOIA, but the CIA refused to release it. The CIA still refused even after after Ms. Martin threatened suit and pointed out that the CIA had no defense under the law to justify its refusal.
Only because the CIA was required to present its defense to the court today has it released the figure. As Martin pointed out: "It shows the importance of the Freedom of Information Act and the right to go to court to enforce the law even against the CIA."
Budget disclosure is the one concrete reform of the CIA's secrecy practices that has now been recommended for more than 20 years. The Church Committee advocated public release in 1976 -- as has every other intelligence reform effort since then, including, most recently, the Aspin-Brown Commission in 1996.
The number has been previously estimated at $30 billion and has been called one of Washingtons worst-kept secrets. Nonetheless, as Ms. Martin explained, the disclosure is a critical step toward more accountability of the intelligence agencies.
For years, intelligence funds have been hidden in the defense budget, distorting real spending. When the public is deprived of critical budget information, they are also deprived of their constitutional right to participate in the affairs of the government. Ms. Martin added: "In order to participate effectively in the political process, citizens need the information that makes that effective participation possible. CIA secrecy didn't serve the national security; it just kept Americans in the dark about how their tax dollars are being spent."
The Center's "Baltimore Sun" op-ed on the
long fight for CIA budget declassification. (By: Duncan Levin)
Steve Aftergood's
statement on the CIA budget release.