Bush, Congress Fail To Provide Pentagon Intelligence Oversight

A recent DoD study reveals that meaningful oversight of its far-reaching intelligence apparatus virtually has ceased to exist. Bush, Congress Fail To Provide Pentagon Intelligence OversightBy Cliff Montgomery – June 13th, 2008Though Bush Administration intelligence operations remain wildly controversial, a recent study from a top Defense Department (DoD) official reveals that meaningful oversight of the Pentagon’s far-reaching intelligence apparatus has virtually ceased to exist.Thanks to government limitations on oversight resources, the Pentagon has “not been able to perform planned audits and evaluations in key intelligence disciplines such as Imagery Intelligence, Measurement and Signature Intelligence and Open Source Intelligence,” a DoD Inspector General (IG) audit reported to Congress in March.The huge growth in America’s war budget “from less than $300 billion to more than $600 billion,” thanks to Bush’s fruitless nation-building of Iraq, as well as the war on al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and elsewhere, has “strained” the DoD Inspector General’s office.While Pentagon activity apparently has doubled, IG office staffing has remained “nearly constant,” stated the study.”As the delta between the resources of the [Defense] Department and the DoD IG grows, it will continue to stretch our resources and affect our ability to be an effective oversight function and control for the Department of Defense, and could ultimately impact our ability to provide adequate coverage of services related to the GWOT [Global War On Terrorism],” added the audit.The Inspector General report states that oversight of intelligence operations has been reduced in such key areas as:National Security Agency Operations Security and Information Security Programs;  National Intelligence Program/Military Intelligence Program funding;Service Intelligence Component activities;National Reconnaissance Office activities, especially major acquisitions;  National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency programs;   DoD Counterintelligence Field Activity Programs;Operations and Support Special Access Programs;  and others.Though the report clearly discusses an important matter–our government’s apparent refusal to  provide a strong oversight of our armed forces’ secret activities–neither the Pentagon nor Congress saw fit to publish the explosive study for the American people.The DoD Inspector General study instead was first released to the public by The Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a top government watchdog group.”The Pentagon’s top cop is outgunned and it’s high noon,” POGO National Security Investigator Nick Schwellenbach declared in a May 27th press release.”It’s stunning that we’ve been spending so much for so long with so little oversight,” he added.POGO hopes to increase the authority and oversight powers of agency inspectors general.Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!