​Discussion: Intelligence Spending—Is It Effective and Efficient?

According to the Federation of American Scientists (http://fas.org/irp/budget/), on February 2, 2015, the Administration submitted its Fiscal Year 2016 budget request, including a request of $53.9 billion for the National Intelligence Program (NIP). The Department of Defense requested $17.9 billion for the Military Intelligence Program (MIP) in FY 2016.

Consider the following articles:

1. We Spend $68 Billion a Year on Intelligence Agencies—and They Don’t Really Work

U.S. intelligence has been blindside by the rise and spread of ISIS and the collapse of the Iraqi army. By Tom Engelhardt

http://www.thenation.com/article/we-spend-68-billi…

2. U.S. Intelligence Spending—Value for Money? By Bernd Debusmann

Put into context: The United States, with around five percent of the world’s population and 23 percent of its economic output accounts for almost two thirds of global spending on intelligence. This is more than at the height of the Cold War, when annual spending, a closely held secret at the time, was estimated at around $15 billion a year in today’s dollars. http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2010/07/16/u… your opinion, are we spending too much on intelligence? Is it effective and efficient?

Remember to support your statements with examples and references.

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