U.S. "Intelligence" Spending: A Whale of a Bad Joke

Labels: economy, usa, government, politics, money

Monday, 20 December 2010 09:49

The government has announced that total spending on "intelligence activities" in fiscal year 2010 was $80.1 billion. According to a report in the Washington Post,
The National Intelligence Program, run by the CIA and other agencies that report to the Director of National Intelligence, cost $53.1 billion in fiscal 2010, which ended Sept. 30, while the Military Intelligence Program cost an additional $27 billion.

Although this is the first time that the total amount has been made public, analysts have long pegged it with fair accuracy. Of course, this species of spending is now at an all-time high. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, affirms that it is also more than twice the amount spent in 2001. It increased 7 percent in the past year alone.

In recent years, we have become accustomed to reading reports of enormous government spending -- billions, trillions, gazillions. These numbers mean practically nothing to ordinary people. Out here in peasant-land, we have trouble enough in trying to figure out how we'll pay a $400 bill for the electricity used in August.

So, let's try to bring the "intelligence" spending into comprehensible focus by using a little arithmetic and asking a few questions.

First, the $80.1 billion the federal government spent on "intelligence" activities in fiscal 2010 translates to approximately $1,000 for each family of four persons. You can imagine the sort of benefit you get from spending that much money, say, to purchase about 400 gallons of fuel for your car -- enough to drive the car 8,000 miles, at a 20 mpg rate of fuel consumption. Or enough to purchase electricity while your air conditioner is running flat out through the summer months. You get the idea: $1,000 is not an amount the average family can afford to sneeze at; the family must take care to get a substantial benefit in exchange for that much of its money.

Now, think of all the concrete benefits you get from the government's spending for "intelligence." Go on, think about them — not in vague terms, such as "protection from terrorists," in but concrete terms that you can relate directly to your family's well-being. Go on. I'm waiting.