The Defense Department spent $24 billion on its unclassified and classified intelligence activities in Fiscal 2011, announced Pentagon officials. This military intelligence program topline included the appropriations both in the Pentagon’s base budget and in its overseas contingency operations accounts, they said. DOD officials said they determined that “releasing this topline figure does not jeopardize any classified activities within the MIP.” However, they said they would not release additional MIP budget figures or program details since they “remain classified for national security reasons.” The Fiscal 2011 MIP total was down some $3 billion from the previous fiscal year. The MIP comprises the activities that support the Defense Secretary’s intelligence, counterintelligence, and related responsibilities.
A new Air Force plan for how many fighters it needs in the next decade marks a sharp upturn from what it thought it needed just seven years ago. But analysts worry that the aspirational plan now in Congress' hands doesn’t make a tight enough connection to national strategy.
