US Military intelligence Received $23B For Fiscal 2020. Wants The Same Amount For 2021

The Pentagon. (Arlington County / CC-by-SA 2.0) 

The Hill: Military intelligence budget gets $23B for fiscal 2020 

The Pentagon’s classified military intelligence budget received $23.1 billion for the recently ended fiscal year, the department announced Wednesday. 

The Pentagon annually announces the top line dollar amount the military intelligence program (MIP) was appropriated by Congress without delving into further detail of how it was spent. 

“The department has determined that releasing this top line figure does not jeopardize any classified activities within the MIP,” Wednesday’s statement said. “No other MIP budget figures or program details will be released, as they remain classified for national security reasons.” 

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Update: Budget for secretive military intelligence program hits nine-year spending high (Defense News) 

WNU Editor: You would think that with the US disengaging from many trouble spots around the world that the military intelligence budget would go down. Apparently not.

Pentagon Wants To Increase Its Black Budget For Intelligence Programs

Marine Raiders with 1st Marine Raider Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command provide security while conducting a simulated night raid on a warehouse in Los Angeles, Calif., on Sept. 3, 2015. (Sgt. Scott A. Achtemeier/U.S. Marine Corps)

Defense News: DoD requests almost $23B for key intel account

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon wants to increase its black budget for intelligence programs for a fifth straight year.

The Department of Defense has requested $22.95 billion for the top-line budget of the Military Intelligence Program, the DoD announced Monday. While the overall fiscal 2020 budget request was released last week, the MIP request typically comes days or weeks afterward.

That total includes both base budget and overseas contingency operations funding. No further budget figures or program details will be released for “national security reasons,” per a department statement.

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Update: Pentagon Releases Secretive Military Intel Budget Request (Military.com)

WNU Editor: $23 billion dollars is a lot of money for the Pentagon's black budget for intelligence programs, and we the public will never know the details.

President Obama Has Ordered An Inquiry Into Intelligence On The Islamic State

New York Times: Obama Orders Inquiry Into Intelligence on ISIS

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — President Obama said on Sunday that he had ordered his senior defense officials to find out whether intelligence reports had been altered to reflect a more optimistic assessment of the American military campaign against the Islamic State.

Speaking at a news conference in Malaysia at the end of a 10-day overseas trip, Mr. Obama said he expected the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate allegations that significant changes were made to reports from analysts at the United States Central Command, known as Centcom.

“I don’t know what we’ll discover with respect to what was going on in Centcom,” Mr. Obama said. “What I do know is my expectation — which is the highest fidelity to facts, data, the truth.”

WNU Editor: Reports on intelligence manipulation is a serious charge. If the entire U.S. war effort against the Islamic State has been based on faulty intel .... we will need to know if this is the case, and what will the White house do different if this intel was altered.

More News On President Obama Ordering An Inquiry Into Intelligence On The Islamic State

Obama Awaiting Details of Internal Intelligence Probe -- WSJ
Obama Says He's Been Clear: Don't Sugarcoat Terror Intelligence -- Bloomberg
Obama to Pentagon: 'Get to the bottom' of altered Islamic State intelligence -- USA Today
President Obama Returns to DC Amid ISIS Intelligence Report Investigation -- ABC News
Obama: I've told advisers not to hold back bad intelligence -- CBS
Obama says he wants truth from intelligence reports -- Washington Times
Emails show DOD analysts told to 'cut it out' on ISIS warnings; IG probe expands -- FOX News

Report: US Military Intelligence Chief Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn Is Being Forced Out

Defense Intelligence Agency director U.S. Army Lt. General Michael Flynn (Reuters / Gary Cameron)

Head Of Pentagon Intelligence Agency Forced Out, Officials Say -- Washington Post

The top two officials at the Defense Intelligence Agency said Wednesday that they will retire from those positions in the coming months, part of a leadership shake-up at an agency that is under pressure to trim budgets and shift focus after more than a decade of war, current and former U.S. officials said.

Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn is expected to end his tenure as DIA director this summer, about a year before he was scheduled to depart, according to officials who said Flynn faced pressure from Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. and others in recent months. His deputy, David Shedd, had been in his job since 2010.

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More News On Reports That US Military Intelligence Chief Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn Is Being Forced Out

REPORT: The US Military's Top Spy Is Being Forced Out -- Business Insider
US Defense Intelligence Agency director reportedly being forced out -- RT
Defense Intelligence Agency Chief Michael Flynn to Step Down -- WSJ
US military intelligence chief stepping down -- AFP
Defense Intelligence Director Stepping Down -- ABC News
Director and Deputy of Intelligence Agency Are to Retire by Fall -- New York Times
Top 2 Pentagon intelligence officials quitting -- Washington Post
DIA director, deputy to step down -- Air Force Times

A New Intelligence Initiative Coming Out Of The Pentagon (Commentary)

The Pentagon's New Defense Clandestine Service -- Kerry Patton, American Thinker

Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported a new intelligence initiative coming out of the Pentagon. We are constantly reminded that intelligence agencies have difficulty sharing their work, yet the Pentagon has decided to create another intelligence agency -- the Defense Clandestine Service. Many professionals believe that this initiative is doomed to fail.

Since the technological revolution, intelligence-collection among human activity has swiftly deteriorated. Technology has superseded human intelligence (HUMINT) collection efforts with tools such as Signals Intelligence, Measures and Signatures Intelligence, and Open Source. Today, HUMINT has become an endangered species. The good news behind the newly formed Defense Clandestine Service demonstrates that America's HUMINT is like the bald eagle -- it may be endangered, but it is making a comeback.

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My Comment: What's my take with this new intelligence agency .... sighhhh .... Kerry Patton analysis is spot on .... it will probably be just as useless as all the other newly invented intelligence agencies that have been imposed on us over the past few years.

A New Intelligence Agency For The Pentagon

Pentagon Establishes Defense Clandestine Service, New Espionage Unit -- Washington Post

The Pentagon is planning to ramp up its spying operations against high-priority targets such as Iran under an intelligence reorganization aimed at expanding on the military’s espionage efforts beyond war zones, a senior defense official said Monday.

The newly created Defense Clandestine Service would work closely with the CIA — pairing two organizations that have often seen each other as rivals — in an effort to bolster espionage operations overseas at a time when the missions of the agency and the military increasingly converge.

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More News On The Pentagon's New Intelligence Service

Defense Department Plans New Intelligence Gathering Service -- New York Times
Pentagon reshapes spy service -- L.A. Times
Pentagon sets up new spy agency to eavesdrop on a changing world -- The Guardian
Pentagon Creates New Spy Service in Revamp -- Wall Street Journal
New Pentagon spy agency to focus on Iran, China -- AFP
Pentagon spies get new service, stepped up mission -- AP
Pentagon Launches New Spy Agency -- Slate
Pentagon creating new spy service -- Baltimore Sun
Pentagon creating new spy service -- Baltimore Sun
US spies to target Iranians, Chinese -- The Australian
U.S. reorganizing military intelligence -- UPI
New Defense Service Enhances Intelligence Capabilities -- US Department of Defense
Military reworking spy operations -- CNN
Pentagon to Establish Defense Clandestine Service -- RIA Novosti
The Pentagon Is Starting A Whole New Spy Agency To Steal Foreign Secrets -- Business Insider