Pentagon To Lose Control Of The National Intelligence Budget

Photo: James R. Clapper, Jr., Director of National Intelligence

National Intelligence Director Says Budget Will Be Moved From Pentagon Control -- Washington Post

NEW ORLEANS - Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said Tuesday that he has won a "conceptual agreement" to remove the $53 billion national intelligence budget from Pentagon control and place it under his purview by 2013, as part of an effort to enhance his authority over the U.S. intelligence community.

"To me, it's a win-win," he told an audience at the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation conference here. Clapper's deal with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates would take "$50 billion off the top line" of the Pentagon budget and give the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) "more authority and oversight" of the budget. The $27 billion military intelligence budget would remain under the Defense Department, Clapper said.

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My Comment: The political masters in Washington want to have a closer eye on how this money is spent. Hence the shifting of much of the intelligence budget control to the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).