Lotsa talk about the CIA lately. There was the intelligence "battle" between the White House and the CIA, part of which became the scandal now being called Plamegate in some circles. Before that, there was the firing of CIA head George Tenet and the appointment os Porter Goss as DCI. A lot of branding of the Central Intelligence Agency as the apex of US spying, the spy agency that matters.
One would hardly know or think that there was another intelligence agency bigger and more well funded than the CIA. Actually a couple of them. The NSA has more personnel and a bigger budget than does the CIA.
The NRO, National Reconaissance Office, has a bigger budget than both but a smaller staff. The smaller staff, of course is even more disquieting since it's only considered to have a smaller staff because it is a staff of civilians and not public workers which might lend them to more governmental oversight starting with how many there are. But since they're private, even that isn't reported.
The NSA has a reported annual budget of around 3.2 billion dollars.
The NRO reportedly has operated in the 6.1 billion dollar range annually.
And this is just what is disclosed. What we are allowed to know.
And since the Pentagon admits it cannot account for about 2 trillion (a trillion is 1,000 billions) over the past 15 years, the 6 billion number could mean nothing. Take it or leave it, these guys are running through a lot of money to spy on who?
And watching television might leave the typical American feeling vulnerable, almost as if these many trillions per year to know everything have left us knowing very little.
Personally, I find it amusing to see the way the conspiracy theorizing people are so disparaged. Many billions spent on 'intelligence' doesn't guarantee foreknowledge of anything. But is it really crazy to theorize that there might be foreknowledge of major events?
Actually. It's not amusing. It's disturbing. There is a scary distance between the capabilities of these spy agencies and the public perception of those capabilities.
