Despotic Cronyism

As the United States finds itself in the midst of the most
radical privatization agenda in its history, few areas have
seen as dramatic a transformation to privatized services as
the world of intelligence. “This is the magnet now. Everything
is being attracted to these private companies in terms of
individuals and expertise and functions that were normally
done by the intelligence community,” says former CIA division
chief and senior analyst Melvin Goodman. “My major
concern is the lack of accountability, the lack of responsibility.
The entire industry is essentially out of control. It’s
outrageous.”
Last year R.J. Hillhouse, a blogger who investigates the
clandestine world of private contractors and US intelligence,
obtained documents from the office of the Directorate of
National Intelligence (DNI) showing that Washington spends
some $42 billion annually on private intelligence contractors,
up from $17.5 billion in 2000. That means 70 percent of the
US intelligence budget is going to private companies. Perhaps
it is no surprise, then, that the head of DNI is Mike McConnell,
the former chair of the board of the Intelligence and
National Security Alliance, the private intelligence industry’s
trade association.