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.
The credibility of America’s deterrent is waning, and the way to get it back is by restructuring defense leadership and raising the defense budget almost 100 percent, according to a new paper from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.