Secret military budget sees a major increase

DREW BROWN / KNIGHT RIDDER | May 21 2006

WASHINGTON -- Classified military spending has reached its highest level since 1988, near the end of the Cold War, a new independent analysis has found.

Classified, or black, programs now appear to account for about $30.1 billion, or 19%, of the acquisition money the Defense Department is requesting for fiscal year 2007, according to Steven Kosiak, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, an independent policy-research group.

The figure is more than double the amount the Pentagon requested in 1995, when classified military acquisition spending reached a post-Cold War low. It apparently reflects an increase in intelligence funding and a surge in new weapons research and procurement since 9/11.

"In terms of where the money is actually going, it's quite speculative. But clearly a lot of space programs, new satellites are funded through this, and other surveillance systems" such as unmanned aerial vehicles, "things like that," Kosiak said.

His figures were based on publicly available Defense Department budget documents.

Some effective weapons have been developed through secret programs, notably the U2 and SR71 spy planes, which were produced in the 1960s to spy on the Soviet Union. The F117 stealth fighter and B2 stealth bomber also were made through classified programs.

Boondoggles include the Navy's A12 attack plane, which was canceled in 1991 because of technical problems and cost overruns.

Critics warn that classified programs result in less Congressional oversight and lend themselves to waste and abuse of government money.

Most people can accept the need for secret budgets for secret military projects, but "it's the growth of the black budget that people find troubling," said Chris Hellman, director of the Project on Military Spending Oversight at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

The Pentagon didn't respond to requests for comment.

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