Intelligence Agencies

Dear Mr. President,

When I googled “Intelligence Agencies” I found 17 listed. Most I recognized—NSA, CIA, FBI, DHS, etc.—but one, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, I had never heard of before. What do they do, I wondered, look for alien invaders? Their mission statement—“NGA provides timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security”—is typical bland bureaucrat-speak. The only clue to what they do is “national security.” Digging further on their official government website, I began to understand that these are probably the people who control the spy satellites. “NGA helped track down al Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladin and shared insights with the special operations team that successfully stormed his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 1, 2011.” I also learned that James Clapper headed the Agency when it was formed in 2003. James Clapper! the guy who at times seems utterly clueless, the guy who claimed that we couldn’t find WMDs in Iraq because Saddam Hussein had shipped them all to Syria, the guy you nominated as the Director of the National Intellience in June 2010. OK, you probably had your reasons. But then I learned that in September 2011, the Geospatial Agency opened a brand new glitzy campus at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, a 2.4 million square foot complex with an atrium big enough to hold the Statue of Liberty, at a cost of $2.4 billion. Why is it there’s money for stuff with a “national security” tag but nothing for our crumbling infrastructure: roads, bridges and hundred year old water systems? Why is there money to bail out the Banksters of Wall Street but nothing to bail out bankrupt cities, desperate homeowners and depleted pension funds? Why can the Department of Homeland Security give $300,000 to the Montgomery County, Texas Sheriff’s Department to buy a drone armed with a Tazer, rubber bullets and bean bag cannon, but we have to cut classes in our community colleges and shutter libraries because there’s no money for that? And tell me, Mr. President, why are the budgets for all these Intelligence Agencies classified anyway? Their budgets are our tax dollars and we have a right to know how our money is spent. Why is it that in America the rich get richer and We the People get the shaft? You want to know why the American people are pissed off? Why we’ve lost faith in our government? Think about it, Mr. President. Things may be “just fine” if you’re part of the 1%, but not so good if you’re not.