NSA Wants $1Billion Supplemental
$1 BILLION in supplemental? The budget has doubled since 9/11 to $8 BILLION a year? I say take it out of the defense budget.
WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency is facing significant budget shortfalls as the spy agency scrambles to respond to a mounting electricity crisis, modernize its technology, maintain current operations and add workspace, congressional and intelligence officials say.
As a result, they say, the NSA has slowed hiring, pared back upgrades in information technology, delayed equipment purchases and shut offices.The agency’s director, Lt. Gen. Keith B. Alexander, is seeking an increase of nearly $1 billion in supplemental spending for 2007 and a similar boost next year as the White House finalizes its 2008 budget, current and former intelligence officials say.
The money crunch comes despite a doubling of the NSA’s budget since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to approximately $8 billion per year.
The agency received essentially the same amount in this year’s budget as last year, according to a senior intelligence official speaking on condition of anonymity because intelligence budgets are classified.
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