For example, on the federal level, the Central Intelligence Agency frequently appears in the press. Despite its far flung activities, the CIA is a relatively small player compared to the less known but far more powerful organizations, such as the National Security Agency. A report by the United States Senate concluded:
##... as Director of the CIA, the DCI [Director of Central Intelligence] controls less than 10 percent of the combined national and tactical intelligence efforts .... The remainder spent directly by the Department of Defense on intelligence activities in FY 1976 was outside of his fiscal authority .... The DCI's influence over how these funds are allocated was limited, in effect, to that of an interested critic. (Bamford 1982, p. 3-4; citing U.S. Senate 1976, p. 333)
Carl Remick wrote:
> >"Spying Budget Made Public By Mistake", By Tim Weiner
> >The New York Times, November 5 1994
> >
> >By mistake, a Congressional subcommittee has published an unusually
> >detailed breakdown of the highly classified "black budget" for United
> >States intelligence agencies. ...
> >
> >$3.1 billion for the CIA
> >$10.4 billion for the Army, Navy, Air Force
> >and Marines special-operations units
> >$13.2 billion for the NSA/NRO/DIA
>
> It doesn't seem to matter how many billions the U.S. throws at spook-istic
> operations, our preening enthnocentricity guarantees we will either
> misinterpret or totally ignore whatever facts we do find.
>
> There was an oped in today's Wall Street Journal by former CIA Director R.
> James Woolsey that contained a particularly breathtaking example of this.
> The title of the piece is "Why We Spy on Our Allies," and Woolsey --
> commenting on "the recent flap regarding Echelon and U.S. spying on European
> industries" -- states the only reason for this snooping is to uncover
> evidence of bribery. Here's the beauty part. States Woolsey: "The
> European Parliament's recent report on Echelon, written by British
> journalist Duncan Campbell, has sparked angry accusations from continental
> Europe that U.S. intelligence is stealing advanced technology from European
> companies so that we can -- get this -- give it to American companies and
> help them compete. My European friends, get real. True, in a handful of
> areas European technology surpasses American, but, to say this as gently as
> I can, the number of such areas is very, very, very small. Most European
> technology just isn't worth our stealing."
>
> If this is the way the CIA talks about America's *allies*, I'd be interested
> in seeing what sort of contemptuous language they reserve for enemies.
>
> Carl
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--
Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901