From: Mario Profaca <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: July 8, 2008 7:49:09 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [SPY NEWS] The outsourcing of intelligence--US
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http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_27481.shtml
The outsourcing of intelligence--US
By Tim Shorrock
Jul 7, 2008, 12:20
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(FederalTimes.com) <http://federaltimes.com/index.php?M=aboutus>* -*
In
the aftermath of Sept.11, Vice President Dick Cheney famously warned
that the war on terrorism would be fought on “the dark side, if you
will,” using “sources and methods that are available to our
intelligence
agencies.” Few expected those tactics would include torture, secret
prisons and the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping of
U.S. persons. And fewer had any idea this work would be carried out by
private corporations working under contract to the U.S. government.
As I’ve reported in a new book, an astounding 70 percent of the U.S.
intelligence budget is spent on private contracts. With the post-Sept.
11 hikes in intelligence spending, spying for hire has become an
industry worth nearly $50 billion a year. Contractors perform a
range of
classified activities once reserved for government employees,
including
running covert operations, analyzing intercepted telephone calls and
writing reports that are passed up the line to the president and his
security advisers.
Contractors are essential personnel at many agencies, ranging from 35
percent of the work force at the Defense Intelligence Agency to 95
percent at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the super-secret
agency that operates military spy satellites and the ground stations
that analyze satellite intelligence and imagery.
Among the recent migrants to the spy business are former CIA Director
George Tenet and Stephen Cambone, the former undersecretary of Defense
for intelligence. Below them are thousands of former operatives who
have
gone into industry, where many perform the same tasks they once
performed for government.
In May, the Government Accountability Office reported that 2,435
former
senior Pentagon officials had gone to work for 52 defense contractors,
with 65 percent of them landing at seven key intelligence contractors:
Science Applications International Corp., Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen
Hamilton, L-3 Communications, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and
Raytheon. Of that total, GAO said, 422, or nearly a third, handle
contracts related to their former agencies, while nine work on
contracts
over which they held oversight and decision-making authority while in
government. Such a system is ripe for conflicts of interest and
corruption.
But as outsourcing has expanded, oversight has fallen behind.
According
to a 2007 report from the House Intelligence Committee, the Bush
administration has yet to develop a “clear definition of what
functions
are ‘inherently governmental’ and which ones can be safely outsourced
without endangering national security. That helps explain what went
wrong at Abu Ghraib, where information technology contractors were
deeply involved in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners — a role in which they
should never have been placed.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General recently told
Congress that as defense spending has risen, the number of IG auditors
has dropped from one for every $642 million in spending to one for
every
$2 billion. As a result, the IG’s ability to provide oversight has
been
significantly reduced at key collection agencies, which are highly
dependent on contractors.
Intelligence spending bills before the House and Senate require that
contracting be cut back significantly and, for the first time,
establish
guidelines for tasks that should remain in government hands. Under the
bills, for example, contractors would be banned from involvement in
CIA
interrogations of enemy prisoners.
These measures, while important, barely begin to deal with the
problems
posed by outsourcing. Congress should use its investigative powers to
determine what contractors have done for controversial intelligence
programs. What role did intelligence contractors play in the National
Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program, which lasted from
2001 to 2007? Who is responsible for the huge cost overruns at NSA?
The
American people deserve to know, particularly in the era of the
“dark side.”
*/Tim Shorrock/*/ is the author of “Spies for Hire: The Secret World
of
Intelligence Outsourcing,” published by Simon & Schuster./
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