The Only Time in History the Real US Intelligence Black Budget Became Public
Published by The Classified Record
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Who is named
The characters and things this document talks about — 13 in alls. Each links to everything else the record knows about them.
People 2
Organisations 8
NSA Washington Post FBI China CIA National Reconnaissance Office Pakistan Russia
Claims made
Every claim in this document. Firsthand = asserted on its own basis; secondhand = recounted from elsewhere, carrying no independent weight.
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On August 29, 2013, the Washington Post published a real, 178-page classified budget document, provided by Edward Snowden, breaking down the $52.6 billion fiscal year 2013 intelligence budget agency by agency and, in places, program by program.
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It remains the only time in American history the itemized black budget has ever become public.
It remains the only time in American history the itemized black budget has ever become public.
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The CIA commanded the largest share of the intelligence budget, $14.7 billion, in fiscal year 2013.
The CIA, not the NSA, turned out to command the largest share of the intelligence budget, $14.7 billion,
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The NSA's share of the intelligence budget was $10.8 billion in fiscal year 2013.
more than the NSA's $10.8 billion
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and roughly on par with the National Reconnaissance Office's $10.3 billion for spy satellites.
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Together, those three agencies alone consumed 68 percent of the entire $52.6 billion.
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The NSA and CIA launched offensive cyber operations, as termed in the budget, in fiscal year 2013.
the NSA and CIA had launched what the budget itself termed offensive cyber operations
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including agencies acknowledging their own blind spots: uncertainty about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, about what China's next generation of fighter aircraft could actually do, about how Russia might respond to a terrorist attack.
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the raid that killed Osama bin Laden was, in the document's own words, guided from space by a fleet of satellites collecting signals intelligence in real time as the mission unfolded.
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This establishes that a real, itemized breakdown of America's classified intelligence spending existed, was obtained and published by a major news organization, and confirmed capabilities and priorities the public had never been told about in specific terms, not vague totals.
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The Post itself withheld portions of the document after consultation with officials over sensitive sources and methods.
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No comparably detailed black budget document has been made public since 2013.
No comparably detailed black budget document has been made public since.
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The Classified Record traces that exact pattern from a 1946 screening memo to the 3.4 million warrantless searches the FBI ran in a single year.
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