WASHINGTON — The government announced Thursday that it had spent $80.1 billion on intelligence activities over the past 12 months, disclosing for the first time not only the amount spent by civilian intelligence agencies but also by the military.
The so-called 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.
Spending on intelligence for 2010 far exceeded the $42.6 billion spent on the Department of Homeland Security and the $48.9 billion spent on the State Department and foreign operations.
The cost of the Military Intelligence Program has always remained classified. But as undersecretary of defense for intelligence, James Clapper, now the director of national intelligence, secured approval to release the figure.
“I pushed through and got Secretary (Robert) Gates to approve revelation of the Military Intelligence Program budget,” Clapper told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in July.
In disclosing the military intelligence figure, which includes more than $3.5 billion spent in Iraq and Afghanistan, Defense Department official said no program details will be released.
Although an overall intelligence budget was not released last year, then-Director Dennis Blair told reporters in a teleconference that the overall budget was $75 billion. At that time, the officially released National Intelligence Program budget was $49.5 billion.
The disclosure Thursday that intelligence spending had risen to $80.1 billion, an increase of nearly 7 percent over the year before and a record high, led to immediate calls for fiscal restraint on Capitol Hill.
