Top Secret America

[Richard]

Top Secret America- a WaPo investigative series.

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin

Part 1: A Hidden World, Growing Beyond Control
WaPo, 19 July 2010

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.

The investigation's other findings include:

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

* In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.

* Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks.

* Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.

(cont'd) http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/

Part 2: National Security Inc.
WaPo, 20 July 2010

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/national-security-inc/

Part 3: The Secrets Next Door
WaPo, 21 July 2010

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/secrets-next-door/

[Streck-Fu]

It's a conspiracy, Man....

[rdret1]

Knowledge is POWER! I have the knowledge, so to keep my power, I am not telling you!

Pretty much the way it has always worked isn't it?

[Peregrino]

I'm having a hard time getting excited about this "revelation". While there is a point of concern, I seriously doubt the WaPo brings it up out of a sense of duty. And yes - redundancy in analysis is absolutely necessary. It tends to ensure that parochialism doesn't bury dissenting opinions. Do we need everything we have? Probably not. Is the WaPo qualified to pass judgement? Maybe - the day after hell freezes over.

[The Reaper]

It occurs to me that someone leaking classified and the ones publishing it need to be prosecuted, go to jail, and be made an example.

Need to know? I do not think so.

TR

[EasyIan]

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

Top Secret has become so secretive :rolleyes:....Isn't the point of something being top secret to prevent people without a need to know the information? The fact that the media gets there hands on this kind of stuff all of the time makes me :mad:

[sf11b_p]

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

Take out the words terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and insert; health care, failing financial institutions, companies, housing and job loss and it's almost scary.

[Sierra Bravo]

Top Secret America- a WaPo investigative series.

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin

A Hidden World, Growing Beyond Control
WaPo, 19 July 2010

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.

The investigation's other findings include:

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

* In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.

* Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks.

* Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.

(cont'd) http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/

I just received this regarding the ODNI's response to the washington Post series

Please note the following two documents by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in response to the Washington Post series.

* A Q&A (http://www.dni.gov/content/Question_and_Answer_IC.pdf) regarding intelligence practices and reform efforts post-9/11.

* Truth about Contractors (http://www.dni.gov/content/Truth_About_Contractors.pdf) dispels myths surrounding the Intelligence Community’s use of and relationship with contractors.

[Streck-Fu]

I'm having a hard time getting excited about this "revelation". While there is a point of concern, I seriously doubt the WaPo brings it up out of a sense of duty. And yes - redundancy in analysis is absolutely necessary. It tends to ensure that parochialism doesn't bury dissenting opinions. Do we need everything we have? Probably not. Is the WaPo qualified to pass judgement? Maybe - the day after hell freezes over.

The more I look into what the WaPo is publishing, the less interested I become. I was actually a little surprised at the number of people having clearances as I expected it to be more. Any one in the military or government or contractor that may get a whiff of sensitive material will get a clearance. Many will never see a classified document in their career.

As for redundancy in analysis strongly recommended by hte 9/11 commission to eliminate the compartmentalization of information that prevented the threat assessment?

[Richard]

Updated with the URLs for all three articles now inserted into post #1 of this thread.

Richard

[lindy]

This was from the Post: "The existence of these clusters is so little known that most people don't realize when they're nearing the epicenter of Fort Meade's, even when the GPS on their car dashboard suddenly begins giving incorrect directions, trapping the driver in a series of U-turns, because the government is jamming all nearby signals."

What a bunch of BS...I use the Balt-Wash Parkway daily on my way into DC and have traveled Highway 32 without ever having problems with my GPS. Jamming the GPS freq range so close to BWI? Gimme a break.

Regarding the rest of the articles, is this stuff really news or is it "tabloid journalism"? Seriously, is the American public really interested in this stuff?