Intelligence spending up one-third in decade

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government spent $43.5 billion on intelligence in 2007, according to the first official disclosure under a new law implementing recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission.

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell released the newly declassified figure Tuesday. In a statement, the DNI said there would be no additional disclosures of classified budget information beyond the overall spending figure because “such disclosures could harm national security.”

Intelligence spending has increased by a third over 10 years ago, in inflation adjusted dollars, according to Steve Kosiak at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

In 1997 and 1998, the CIA voluntarily disclosed the intelligence budget at $26.6 billion and $26.7 billion, respectively. That revelation came in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, D.C.