By: Alexandria Addesso
About one in six United States residents face hunger. Yet half of all the government's expenditures goes to the “military-industrial complex”, military and security. This amount of spending dwarfs that of which goes to assist the poor. Yet there is another budget that is completely off the radar and is not included in the known percentage given to the “military-industrial complex” even though it seems to directly associate with it.
Nearly $60 billion in spending goes to what is known as the “black budget”, an amount of expenditures that go to top secret means. Whistleblower Edward Snowden first revealed the amount allocated to the budget in 2013, then in was under $53 billion.
The top five agencies that receive this funding in descending order from most to least money allocated are the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Program, and General Defense Intelligence Program.
While there is some information out there about what exactly the budget goes to, most of the documents are in cryptic language and even most members of Congress can't get their hands on them. Based on what was exposed in the black budgets from previous years it is supposed that the budget funds projects that have to do with next generation drones and the penetration of hostile foreign intelligence services by means of ultra-powerful eavesdropping equipment, missile-spotting radars, spy satellites, and stealth bombers.
It is understandable to consider why such information may be kept top secret when dealing with foreign threats. But what about perceived domestic threats? With a notorious past of spying on its own citizens, it should be in the mind of every American that such programs could alternately be used on them. While keeping track of domestic terrorists may seem reasonable to many, history mustn’t be forgotten. National hero Martin Luther King Jr. was once heavily monitored by the government via phone tapping, yet he was just one of many.
Possibly in an era where people voluntarily release nearly all of their information and scope of their lives onto social media such citizen monitoring is not necessary. But this era is also the most technologically advanced in the realm of spying and eliminating perceived threats.
As things come full-circle, not adequately caring for the poor may seem less like an oversight and more like another way to combat a perceived “threat”.
About one in six United States residents face hunger. Yet half of all the government's expenditures goes to the “military-industrial complex”, military and security. This amount of spending dwarfs that of which goes to assist the poor. Yet there is another budget that is completely off the radar and is not included in the known percentage given to the “military-industrial complex” even though it seems to directly associate with it.
Nearly $60 billion in spending goes to what is known as the “black budget”, an amount of expenditures that go to top secret means. Whistleblower Edward Snowden first revealed the amount allocated to the budget in 2013, then in was under $53 billion.
The top five agencies that receive this funding in descending order from most to least money allocated are the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Program, and General Defense Intelligence Program.
While there is some information out there about what exactly the budget goes to, most of the documents are in cryptic language and even most members of Congress can't get their hands on them. Based on what was exposed in the black budgets from previous years it is supposed that the budget funds projects that have to do with next generation drones and the penetration of hostile foreign intelligence services by means of ultra-powerful eavesdropping equipment, missile-spotting radars, spy satellites, and stealth bombers.
It is understandable to consider why such information may be kept top secret when dealing with foreign threats. But what about perceived domestic threats? With a notorious past of spying on its own citizens, it should be in the mind of every American that such programs could alternately be used on them. While keeping track of domestic terrorists may seem reasonable to many, history mustn’t be forgotten. National hero Martin Luther King Jr. was once heavily monitored by the government via phone tapping, yet he was just one of many.
Possibly in an era where people voluntarily release nearly all of their information and scope of their lives onto social media such citizen monitoring is not necessary. But this era is also the most technologically advanced in the realm of spying and eliminating perceived threats.
As things come full-circle, not adequately caring for the poor may seem less like an oversight and more like another way to combat a perceived “threat”.
