Re: What you might find useful would be tracking US proxies and Allies
Done. What you might find useful is helping me track the "black ops" budgets and where they are spent:
fas.org
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CLASSIFIED DEFENSE SPENDING CONTINUES TO GROW
Classified spending in the proposed 2006 defense acquisition budget totals about $28 billion, according to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA).
That is nearly double the amount in real dollars that was spent in fiscal year 1995, which was the post-Cold War low for classified defense spending.
Since 1995, classified Defense Department spending has grown even faster than the overall defense acquisition budget, which itself grew by 60 per cent, CSBA reported.
See "FY06 Classified Funding in the Defense Budget Request" by Stephen Kosiak, CSBA, March 28:
csbaonline.org
and "FY06 Black Budget Estimates," March 28:
csbaonline.org
From a public policy perspective, the concern raised by classified spending is that it sharply diminishes the quality and quantity of independent oversight, and provides a hospitable environment for corruption, waste or mere incompetence.
"Effective immediately, I do not want anyone within the Air Force acquisition community discussing any of our programs with the media (on or off the record)," wrote Darleen A. Druyun, a senior Air Force acquisition official, in an October 2001 email message:
fas.org
In retrospect, Ms. Druyun's devotion to strict secrecy appears to be something less than patriotic. Last year, she was convicted of corrupt practices and was sentenced to nine months in the Marianna, Florida women's prison. |
