Growth of Spies

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America's secret army: How the 'war on terror' created a new industry

Since 9/11, US intelligence numbers have gone through the roof – and the budget is three times as high

Photo: Daniel Craig as James Bond. When Ian Fleming wrote his thrillers, spies lived in an exclusive world. In the US, there's nearly 1 million.

Ed Pilkington in New York
The Guardian, Monday 19 July 2010 19.29 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/19/us-spies-triple-since-2001

In the cloak and dagger world of intelligence, the assumption fed by countless spy novels and TV dramas is that top-secret security clearance is restricted to an elite few known only by codes such as M and C. Not so in today's America.

A new survey of the intelligence network created in the wake of the 9/11 attacks estimates that some 854,000 people have been given high-level clearance, making James Bond look decidedly everyday.

The estimate comes from the Washington Post which has dedicated a team of reporters to a two-year project on what it calls "Top Secret America"

In addition to the army of individuals, it has identified some 1,271 government bodies and 1,931 private contractors working on counter-terrorism.

The creation of this extraordinary spider's-web of intrigue can be dated back to 16 September 2001, a week after the attacks, when George Bush announced from Camp David the launch of what he called a "war on terror". The war would take a while, he warned, and the American people would have to be patient, but he was determined.

What he didn't warn the American people was that nine years later that war would have spawned a gigantic proliferation of agencies and spending unparalleled in US history.

Not only is the system huge and massively expensive, it is also highly inefficient and unwieldy, the Post believes. The official US intelligence budget now stands at $75bn, almost three times its size at 9/11, with 263 new bodies dedicated to rooting out violent extremism.

Much of the work is overlapping. The Post cites the example of 51 federal and military units in 15 cities devoted to tracking the financing of terror networks.

Such is the mountain of paperwork generated, with 50,000 intelligence reports a year, that no one can keep a grip on it. Just a handful of top operatives, known as super users, are allowed to have an overview of all the findings – and not surprisingly they are overwhelmed. "I'm not going to live long enough to be briefed on everything," one told the Washington Post.

Still, there are aspects of the new underground world that would please 007. The Post located one secret programme to a tall concrete building in Maryland which had false windows to disguise it. Many new buildings created to house operatives have special rooms enclosed in metal to foil snoopers.

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U.S. Intelligence after 9/11

Monday 19 July 2010

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks kicked off the establishment of a sprawling intelligence community in the US with no way to head off its mushrooming growth.

Following two years of investigation, The Washington Post came to the conclusion on Monday that since 2001, the bureaucracy has turned to be "so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work."

The paper said its findings suggested that around 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies were involved in counterterrorism-related programs, and together they occupied 33 building complexes already built or under construction.

The space could embrace nearly three Pentagons or 22 US Capitol buildings, it said.

"There has been so much growth since 9/11 that getting your arms around that -- not just for the DNI [Director of National Intelligence], but for any individual, for the director of the CIA, for the secretary of defense -- is a challenge," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Post.

The probe also referred to the gigantic redundancy and waste generated by the enormous bureaucracy.

According to the report, the US leads its homeland security and intelligence programs from some 10,000 locations across the country.

This is while, Washington uses 51 federal and military commands located in 15 US cities to track money shipments by terrorist networks.

The various agencies involved in the job produce a whopping 50,000 intelligence reports annually, "many" of which "are routinely ignored," said the Post.

Alleged al-Qaeda terrorists conducted a series of coordinated attacks on the US soil in September 2001.

The attacks gave the US and its allies the excuse to send troops to Afghanistan, where they claimed was the al-Qaeda hub at the time.

The so-called global war on terrorism has so far cost the American taxpayers billions of dollars.

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Post documents growth of intelligence since 9/11

Associated Press - 19 July 2010

AP, WASHINGTON — Since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, top-secret intelligence gathering by the government has grown so unwieldy and expensive that no one really knows what it cost and how many people are involved, The Washington Post reported Monday.

A two-year investigation by the newspaper uncovered what it termed a "Top Secret America" that's mostly hidden from public view and largely lacking in oversight.

In its first installment of a series of reports, the Post said there are now more than 1,200 government organizations and more than 1,900 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in some 10,000 locations across the U.S.

Some 854,000 people — or nearly 1 1/2 times the number of people who live in Washington — have top-secret security clearance, the paper said.

Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday the issue of redundancy within the intelligence community is a "well known" problem.

"We've been fighting two wars since 9-11 and a lot of that growth in the intelligence community has come as a result of needed increases in intelligence collection and those types of activities to support two wars," Lapan said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates previously had ordered the services and defense agencies to find cost savings in the years to come. Lapan said the military's intelligence programs, including its reliance on contractors, was expected to be part of that sweeping review.

Gates told the Post that he doesn't believe the massive bureaucracy of government and private intelligence has grown too large to manage, but that it is sometimes hard to get precise information.

"Nine years after 9/11, it makes sense to sort of take a look at this and say, 'OK, we've built tremendous capability, but do we have more than we need?" he said.

The head of the CIA, Leon Panetta, said he knows that with the growing budget deficits the level of spending on intelligence will likely be reduced and he's at work on a five-year plan for the agency.

The White House had been anticipating the Post report and said before it was published that the Obama administration came into office aware of the problems and is trying to fix them.

The administration also released a memo from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence listing what it called eight "myths" and intended as a point-by-point answer to the charges the Post series was expected to raise.

Among them was that contractors represent the bulk of the intelligence work force. The memo put the number at 28 percent, or less than a third.

The memo said that 70 percent of the intelligence budget is spent on "contracts, not contractors."

"Those contracts cover major acquisitions such as satellites and computer systems, as well as commercial activities such as rent, food service, and facilities maintenance and security," the memo said.

The Post said its investigation also found that:

_In the area around Washington, 33 building complexes — totaling some 17 million square feet of space — for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since 9/11.

_Many intelligence agencies are doing the same work, wasting money and resources on redundancy.

_So many intelligence reports are published each year that many are routinely ignored.

"There has been so much growth since 9/11 that getting your arms around that — not just for the DNI, but for any individual, for the director of the CIA, for the secretary of defense — is a challenge," Gates told the Post.

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Washington Post exposes US 'intelligence flaws'

BBC - 19 July 2010, 15:35
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10681861

The US secret intelligence gathering systems have grown so much since 9/11 that no-one knows their exact cost, nor size, the Washington Post reports.

The newspaper says the system is now so massive and unwieldy that it is impossible to determine its effectiveness in keeping the US safe.

The report, Top Secret America, follows a two-year investigation by the paper.

Acting US intelligence chief David C Gompert has dismissed the picture painted by the report as inaccurate.

"The reporting does not reflect the intelligence community we know," Mr Gompert said in a statement.

"We accept that we operate in an environment that limits the amount of information we can share. However, the fact is, the men and women of the intelligence community have improved our operations, thwarted attacks, and are achieving untold successes every day."

Before the report was published, the White House told the Washington Post it knew about the problems within US intelligence gathering and was trying to fix them.

DNI criticised

The report says the growth of the security industry - with billions of dollars of contracts farmed out to various government agencies and private contractors - has resulted in an unwieldy system lacking in oversight and with high levels of redundancy and waste.

According to the Washington Post:

Nearly 2,000 private companies and 1,270 government agencies are involved in counter-terror work at 10,000 locations across the country
Some 854,000 US citizens have the highest level of security clearance
A fifth of the US government's anti-terror organisations have been created since the September 2001 attacks
More than 250 security bodies have been created or restructured since 9/11
More than 30 complexes with 17m sq ft of space (1.6m sq m) have been built for top-secret intelligence work in the Washington area since the attacks
Various agencies publish so many reports that they are often ignored by officials

'Continuing weaknesses'

Intelligence failures that allowed the September 2001 attacks to happen have produced the regular refrain that the American intelligence community had "failed to join up the dots", says the BBC's defence and security correspondent, Nick Childs.

US intelligence and surveillance systems have changed dramatically since those attacks, with reforms - such as the creation a Directorate of National Intelligence to oversee some 16 agencies in the intelligence community - and a massive injection of resources.

US officials insist these reforms have led to significant improvements.

But recent incidents - such as the failed Detroit airliner bombing in December and the failed Times Square attack on New York in May - have exposed continuing weaknesses, and failures still to "join up the dots", our correspondent adds.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the bureaucracy of US intelligence gathering had not become unmanageable, but that it was sometimes hard to get precise information.

"There has been so much growth since 9/11 that getting your arms around that - not just for the DNI [Director of National Intelligence], but for any individual, for the director of the CIA, for the secretary of defence - is a challenge," Mr Gates told the newspaper.

Confirmation hearing

Last month, President Barack Obama nominated retired Gen James Clapper, a top Pentagon official, to replace Adm Dennis Blair as his next intelligence chief.

Adm Blair resigned as director of national intelligence (DNI), apparently because of internal administration battles.

The DNI was heavily criticised in a report by the president's Intelligence Advisory Board which said it was overstaffed and dysfunctional.

Gen Clapper faces a Senate confirmation hearing this week at which some of the issues raised in the Washington Post are bound to be aired, says our correspondent.

Top Secret America was compiled by Pulitzer Prize-winner Dana Priest and some two dozen reporters, and is being published in three instalments this week.

Priest told BBC World News America that the number of organisations and people at the "secret" level "was just too big to count".

The Washington Post said its investigation was based on government documents, public records and hundreds of interviews with intelligence, military and business officials and former officials.

Most of those interviewed requested anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly, or because they feared retaliation at work, the newspaper said.

BBC World News America is broadcast weeknights at 7pm ET on BBC America and BBC World News.

PROFILE: GEN JAMES CLAPPER

Vietnam War veteran Retired three-star
Air Force general Former director of Defence Intelligence Agency
Former head of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Current Pentagon intelligence official

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U.S. 'creating vast domestic snooping machine'

AFP – 20 Dec 2010

The government is creating a vast domestic spying network to collect information about Americans in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and subsequent terror plots, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The government is using for this purpose the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators, the daily added.
The system collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of US citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing, the report noted.
The government's goal is to have every state and local law enforcement agency in the country feed information to Washington to buttress the work of the FBI, noted the paper, which has conducted its own investigation of the matter.
According to the report, the network includes 4,058 federal, state and local organizations, each with its own counter-terrorism responsibilities and jurisdictions.
At least 935 of these organizations have been created since the 2001 attacks, The Post said.
The probe has revealed that technologies and techniques developed for use on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have migrated into the hands of law enforcement agencies in the United States, the paper pointed out.
In addition, the FBI is building a database with the names and personal information of thousands of US citizens and residents, the report said.
The database is accessible to an increasing number of local law enforcement and military criminal investigators, the report noted.
In a bid to counter what is seen as a threat from radical Islam, some law enforcement agencies have hired as trainers people whose extremist views on Islam and terrorism are considered inaccurate and counterproductive by US intelligence agencies, the paper pointed out.
The cost of the network is difficult to measure, the paper said. But the Department of Homeland Security has given 31 billion dollars in grants since 2003 to state and local governments for homeland security and to improve their ability to find and protect against terrorists, The Post said.
Only this year, it gave 3.8 billion dollars to local law enforcement agencies.

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