By DAN FITZGERALDOne area our Republican controlled Congress missed in cutting spending was our Intelligence budget. Rarely if ever disclosed, which would increase accountability. The CIA budget was last officially disclosed in 1998 at $26.7 billion.
Now it must be upwards of $44 billion as Mary Graham, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Collecting, disclosed in ’05 as reported in NY Times (11/8).*
The 9/11 hijackers were actually monitored for a year and a half in this country before 9/11**.
Egyptian Intelligence did warn CIA that they had eavesdropped on communications between terrorists talking about flying planes into American buildings. And were astonished that CIA didn’t come back at them wanting all the information around the eavesdropped communications.***
ALEC Station, the CIA’s Usama Bin Laden department leading up to 9/11 was primarily staffed by women with an average of 2 to 3 years experience.****
After 9/11 did Congress clean house? No, CIA’s budget was increased almost two fold. “Here’s more to steal.” In the late 1980’s CIA were all non-Southeastern English-Americans. We have a diverse country, for that to work we need to draw strength from every group. I have nothing against English people, but if they’re only hiring English people. Then these are racist members of that group.
I would not trust this Agency when it comes to drugging that goes around. If Obama didn’t lead us in getting banking regulation done in the wake of the ’08 meltdown, I doubt CIA has been reformed. Which JFK was trying to do before he was assassinated in ’63. The world will probably end before that happens.
* http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/08/politics/08budget.html?_r=1&
** http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=129563 & The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright (Pulitzer Prize winner)
*** http://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-egyptian-minister-we-warned-us-ahead-of-911/& 9/11 Press for Truth (DVD)
**** The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright (A Time, Newsweek, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year)
