Secrecy News -- 09/08/13

Fri Sep 6 12:03:49 PDT 2013

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SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2013, Issue No. 79
September 6, 2013

Secrecy News Blog:  http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/

**     TRENDS IN INTELLIGENCE SPENDING, AND MORE FROM CRS
**     RESOURCES ON CONFLICT IN SYRIA FROM CRS

TRENDS IN INTELLIGENCE SPENDING, AND MORE FROM CRS

The rise and fall (and rise) of intelligence spending over the past three
decades is traced in a newly updated report from the Congressional Research
Service.

"Limited publicly available data suggests intelligence spending, measured
in constant 2014 dollars, has roughly doubled since the September 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks and, before declines over the last three years, was
almost double spending at its peak at the end of the cold war," the CRS
report notes.

The report does not explicitly deal with the latest disclosure of a
classified intelligence budget document in the Washington Post. "Because
the document leaked to the news media is classified, CRS is unable to
provide a discussion of the specific detail of that budget submission." But
the report provides a useful compilation of previously disclosed
intelligence budget data, along with some sensible extrapolations to round
out the picture.

CRS also reviews proposals to restructure the intelligence budgeting
process.  See "Intelligence Spending and Appropriations: Issues for
Congress," September 5, 2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/R42061.pdf

But any proposals to modify current intelligence budget practices face
strong opposition in Congress. In its report on the FY2014 defense
authorization act, the House Armed Services Committee included language to
prohibit efforts by the Secretary of Defense to create a new budget account
for the National Intelligence Program. (Section 924)

   http://gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-113hrpt102/html/CRPT-113hrpt102.htm

The Committee also said that the Defense Department has been secretly
maneuvering to promote a consolidated National Intelligence Program budget
within the Department of Defense as a separate budget category -- a step
favored by the 9/11 Commission, among others, as a way to increase clarity
and accountability in intelligence spending. "The committee is concerned
that the executive branch has failed to notify the appropriate
congressional committees about its continuing efforts to pursue
consolidation of the portion of the Department of Defense budget designated
as part of the National Intelligence Program," the House report said. The
Committee directed the Department of Defense to submit a report to Congress
on "any planning [for future intelligence budget consolidation] that has
occurred during the past two years."

Some other noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service
that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the
following.

War in Afghanistan: Campaign Progress, Political Strategy, and Issues for
Congress, August 29, 2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R43196.pdf

Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2013, August
30, 2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42738.pdf

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background and Issues for
Congress, September 3, 2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL33741.pdf

Banning the Use of Racial Preferences in Higher Education: A Legal
Analysis of Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, September
3, 2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43205.pdf

Wildfire Management: Federal Funding and Related Statistics, August 30,
2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43077.pdf

U.S. Farm Income, August 30, 2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40152.pdf

Proposed U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement: Background and
Issues for Congress, August 29, 2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R43204.pdf

Kyrgyzstan: Recent Developments and U.S. Interests, August 30, 2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/97-690.pdf

Climate Change and Existing Law: A Survey of Legal Issues Past, Present,
and Future, August 28, 2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42613.pdf

RESOURCES ON CONFLICT IN SYRIA FROM CRS

Here are some new and updated reports on the conflict in Syria prepared by
the Congressional Research Service:

Possible U.S. Intervention in Syria: Issues for Congress, September 3,
2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R43201.pdf

Syria: Overview of the Humanitarian Response, September 4, 2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R43119.pdf

Syria's Chemical Weapons: Issues for Congress, August 30, 2013:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R42848.pdf

_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

The Secrecy News Blog is at:
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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web:    www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email:  saftergood@fas.org
voice:  (202) 454-4691
twitter: @saftergood

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