Ex-Spy Chief: Counter-Terrorism Budget Can Be Cut

Photo: Dennis Blair (Credit: Susan Walsh)

Funding For Fighting al Qaeda Could Be Cut, Ex-Spy Chief Says -- CBS

Dennis Blair, one of only four men to have held the post of Director of National Intelligence since it was created after 9/11, suggests that the amount of money spent to fight al Qaeda terrorism -- which he estimates at $80 billion per year, not counting Iraq and Afghanistan war costs -- could be cut substantially.

Blair was DNI, supervising the CIA and over a dozen other intelligence agencies, from January 2009 until President Obama fired him in May 2010. Blair says the White House apparently "wanted a less aggressive, less integrating Director of National Intelligence" -- someone "not as strong."

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WNU Editor: The interview with Dennis Blair can be heard here.

What's my take .... $80 billion is a hell of a lot of money. But I suspect that it is not all directed at Al Qaeda, but at other threats and adversaries as well as general intelligence gathering.