Secrecy News: French Intelligence Budget; Congress 7 vs. Agencies; Martian Air Force
Secrecy News: French Intelligence
Budget; Congress 7 vs. Agencies; Martian Air Force
About
Secrecy News
SECRECY NEWS is an email publication of
the Federation of American Scientists (FAS)
Project on Government Secrecy. It provides
informal coverage of new developments in secrecy,
security and intelligence policies, as well
as links to new acquisitions on the Federation
of American Scientists web site. It
is published 2 to 3 times a week, or as events
warrant. Secrecy
News Article Index
There was a time within living memory when the United States
set the standard for democratic decision-making and
government accountability. In areas such as intelligence
spending, that is no longer the case.
The government of France has recently published its intelligence budget
total for 2004, in the amount of 291.1 million Euros. Look
here.
France joins nations such as the United Kingdom, Canada, the
Netherlands, Serbia and Brazil that routinely disclose
baseline intelligence spending information (SN 06/12/03,
10/08/03, 10/24/03).
This contrasts with the stubborn refusal of the U.S.
government to provide even a general accounting of
intelligence expenditures.
According to the classification policies of the Central Intelligence
Agency, even disclosure of 50 year old budget information would damage
national security and jeopardize intelligence sources and methods.
Look
here for more.
Ironically, budget secrecy may have actually damaged U.S. intelligence
by impeding public debate over the declining level of spending during
the mid-1990s, and facilitating the diversion of intelligence dollars
to defense accounts.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS INVOKE SEVEN MEMBER RULE
Democratic members of the House Committee on Government Reform
are invoking a little-known statutory provision known as the
"seven member rule" to try to extract information from
reluctant government agencies.
According to the rule, which originated in 1928, the executive
branch is obliged to ("shall") provide "any information
requested of it relating to any matter within the
jurisdiction" of the Committee when so requested by at least
seven members.
"A spokesbeing for the Mars Air Force denounced as false the
rumors that an alien spacecraft crashed in the desert outside
of Ares Vallis," according to a mock news release circulating
at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, home of the Mars rovers Spirit
and Opportunity.
