America's new 'secret army'

23rd July 2010

Civil Liberty correspondent

Listening in - US spy base in English countryside

A new survey of the US intelligence network created since the 9/11 terrorist attacks estimates that over 854,000 people have been given high-level clearance to view 'Top Secret' intelligence material. In addition to this army of individuals, the report has identified some 1,271 government bodies and 1,931 private contractors working on counter-terrorism. 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' and terrorism, whatever its source and regardless of the actual threat posed. Much of the work is overlapping and unwieldy. For instance, such is the amount of paperwork created by this 'secret army', with approximately 50,000 intelligence reports a year produced by those bodies, no one central agency can co-ordinate it all or digest all the information. Read more about this 'secret army'.

 

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