ODNI Denies Release of 2006 Intelligence Budget Figure

Speaking of overclassification and mindless adherence to obsolete secrecy standards, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence today denied a request to release the size of the 2006 National Intelligence Program budget.

The size of the 2007 budget (pdf) for the National Intelligence Program has been formally declassified and released ($43.5 billion). And so has the figure for the 2008 budget ($47.5 billion).

But “the size of the National Intelligence Program for Fiscal Year 2006 remains currently and properly classified pursuant to Executive Order 12958, as amended,” wrote Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess, Jr. (pdf), director of the ODNI Intelligence Staff.

“In addition, the release of this information would reveal sensitive intelligence sources and methods,” he wrote.