** ** U.S. "black budget" reveals massive bureaucracy, misplaced priorities:****
expert**** Published 2 September 2013**** http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20130902-u-s-black-budget-reveals-massive-bureaucracy-misplaced-priorities-expert **** ** ** **** ** ** Classified budget figures and successes and failures by American**** intelligence agencies, exposed for the first time this week by the**** Washington Post, show a massive bureaucracy with misplaced priorities,**** according to a cybersecurity and privacy expert. "The major failure**** identified in all of the post-9/11 assessments was a 'failure to connect the **** dots,'" the expert said. "Nevertheless, the vast majority of the black**** budget is being spent on data acquisition - collecting more dots - rather*** * than analysis."**** ** ** Classified budget figures and successes and failures by American**** intelligence agencies, exposed for the first time this week by the**** Washington Post, show a massive bureaucracy with misplaced priorities,**** according to an Indiana University cybersecurity and privacy expert.**** ** ** Through documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the Post** ** was able to reveal details of how the U.S.$52.6 billion "black budget" is*** * divvied up among the nation's sixteen intelligence agencies and how some of* *** those agencies are using the money. An Indiana University release reports*** * that according to IU Maurer School of Law Distinguished Professor Fred H.*** * Cate, it appears, at least on the surface, that the government is creating** ** barriers against its own interests.**** ** ** "The major failure identified in all of the post-9/11 assessments was a**** 'failure to connect the dots,'" Cate said. "Nevertheless, the vast majority* *** of the black budget is being spent on data acquisition - collecting more**** dots - rather than analysis. It suggests we didn't learn much from the**** tragic attacks the 12th anniversary of which we are about to commemorate."** ** ** ** The secrecy of the numbers is also problematic, Cate argued. The Post agreed **** to withhold many sensitive details contained in their report, but publishing **** the budgetary summary - voluntarily - could provide significant benefits to* *** the public, he said. Since 2007, the government has released the total level **** of federal spending on intelligence efforts, but never before has the public **** seen where that money goes.**** ** ** "Why are the numbers secret in the first place?" Cate asked. "The high-level **** summary is informative without in any way compromising security, suggesting* *** that the secrecy is designed to reduce public oversight, rather than advance **** any legitimate national interest. This suggests many Americans might think** ** the money could be better spent elsewhere."**** ** ** Another issue raised by the black budget is the significant investment in*** * offensive cyberattacks. The Post's documents show that the Central**** Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency have begun launching**** "offensive cyberoperations" against designated foes.**** ** ** This, Cate said, is problematic because there is no legal framework to**** regulate such activities, and it is inconsistent with outspoken U.S.**** opposition to cyberattacks by other countries, particularly China.**** ** ** "When taken in context with earlier documents from Mr. Snowden, which**** suggest the U.S. is actively engaged in cyberespionage against China, Russia **** and others, this new report shows what a difficult position the U.S. is in," **** Cate said. "It is hard to publicly chastise other nations for engaging in*** * activities that we appear to be conducting in secret and without a legal**** framework to control."**** ** ** Perhaps the most challenging question facing Congress and the American**** public is the value of national security, Cate said.**** ** ** "Is spending $52.6 billion a year worth what we are getting for it?" he**** asked. With cities going bankrupt, federal programs being decimated by**** budget cuts and hundreds of thousands of defense employees forced to stay*** * home over sequestration, are these taxpayer dollars being well spent?**** ** ** "The federal government spends about $5 billion a year on cancer research,** ** despite the fact that over a half-million Americans die from various cancers **** annually," Cate said. "Is investing 10 times as much in the black budget**** yielding 10 times as much benefit as saving those half million lives every** ** year? The secret allotment of tens of billions of dollars for efforts that** ** no one can successfully say are working raises serious issues that Congress* *** and the public should be addressing."**** ** ** ==========================================**** (F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this **** message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to* *** these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed **** within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with**** "Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. **** The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The**** Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain**** permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials* *** if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting,**** teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria* *** for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies** ** as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four** ** criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is**** determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not*** * substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use**** copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you **** must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: **** http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml **** ** ** THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. 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