The Office of the Director of National Intelligence Responds

 

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) responded today to my reverse-engineering of the national Intelligence Community budget, reports the Federal Times:

“Going from those numbers on the back of the slide to any sort of estimate on the overall [intelligence community] budget is a very big stretch and just not supported by the data,” said ODNI spokesman Steve Shaw. Shaw said he could not elaborate because the budget is classified.

Numbers on the back of a  slide?  It's been a busy week and I'm getting punchy, but every time I've read it I had to wonder if that was said using finger quotes around the word "slide" like Dr. Evil when discussing "lasers" and other now-familiar technical terms.   It's so mid-20th Century for an office that in the same presentation boasted of knowledge of such cutting edge technology trends as it did in <finger quote> slide </finger quote> #7:

   

The ODNI slide speaks for itself, though I could uses a little explanation about fiber, but I suppose it is part of a healthy spy's diet. 

 

On the more serious side, let's take a closer look at at what Shaw said and didn't say. What was clearly not said was:

• that the numbers discovered in the hidden spreadsheet used to generate the bar chart at the public presentation were inaccurate;
• that the bar chart presented at the acquisitions conference was also inaccurate;
• that 70% of the Intelligence Community budget goes to contractors was not an accurate figure.  (This figure needed to use these numbers to reverse-engineer the budget.)
• that the IRIS system is not picking up additional pots of Intelligence Community funds that are not under the official control of the ODNI;
• That the IRIS system is not doing what it's designed to do.

If the data cannot be used to extrapolate anything useful, then why was it permanently removed from the Defense Intelligence Agency's website? (And I'd love to know what was going on behind the scenes when it kept coming down, going back up, then coming down again on Monday.) 

The IRIS system has been praised by Congress precisely because it cuts across traditional budgetary fiefdoms and is gathering a snapshot of the entire expenditures of the Intelligence Community.  To discredit my $60 billion figure to protect the secrecy of the budget, he would have been better advised to discredit IRIS, explain how it isn't capturing everything and act like a spy and take the bullet, even though it's not deserved.  That's what the Agency would do it to protect state secrets.  It took the bullet for 9/11.  It did it again for the Iraq War.  But the ODNI isn't acting like a real spies protecting national secrets, it's behaving more like bureaucrats, slipping bureaucratic hairs and protecting their proud new IRIS system.

If my numbers are off, why did I have such a large cluster of visitors to my blog from the Senate on Monday, followed by more on Tuesday, joined by others from the House and the Office of the Secretary of Defense?  (And if CIFA really has been doing domestic spying, why is it always last at my parties, even behind DARPA?  Welcome, guys!  Make yourselves at home--it shouldn't take you long to catch up.)   And who is behind the masked domain from the masked referrers that first hit the blog within less than 15 minutes of the original story's posting and whose domain has the second highest number of visitors on my blog this week?   The last time this happened was when I posted about the probable contents of the censored DNI report on industrial outsourcing in the Intelligence Community.

The patterns are curious.  Amazing that there would be so much interest for <finger quote>"a very big stretch just not supported by the data."</finger quote>

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Comments

[The Greaseman]

More and more frequently heard in the corridors of Hqs: "Have you seen the latest on "The Spy Who Billed Me?' Go ahead and admit it: We love this stuff, green or blue. Since it's obvious that Dr. Hillhouse knows that we're reading her blog, why don't we just be bold and bulky and write a few comments? Her book comes out on Tuesday, and I've already got mine reserved. Anyone want to meet me at the Tysons Gordon Biersch after work, knock back a couple of bone drys, and see who she's fictionalized?

[R J Hillhouse]

Hi Greaseman,

Thanks for de-cloaking and your timing is good. I'm in the middle of a discussion at the moment with my publicists trying to decide if it's worth doing a book gig in DC in July, along with a signing at the Pentagon Mall bookstore and the Tysons Corner Borders. Would it draw a crowd? And, more importantly, anyone for a drink at that Gordon Biersch if I'm in town??

[Suzanne]

Dr. Hillhouse:

Congratulations (I think) for all the attention you are getting from the various agencies.

One would think that, being so cutting edge technologically advanced, those folks would know about finger quote site meters end finger quote.

[Erik Rader]

Dr. Hillhouse,

Regarding those anonymous hits, depending on which visit tracking software you're using, various government agencies will not show up, or if they do, they'll show up as unknown.

I use SiteMeter on my blog, and for quite some time, anyone who visited from my work (NAWCWD China Lake) would show up only as a partial IP address, with none of the regular details. Then, for about 8 months, it wouldn't show up at all. Now, it shows up in total.

It seems to depend on if the agency blocks certain websites that collect data.

Oh, and great work bringing this mishandled exposure to light. ODNI is acting like a bunch of bureaucrats rather than real "spies" willing to take one for the team in the name of national security.

[R J Hillhouse]

Hi Erik,

Keep in mind, I not only have a long history of studying my own data through various analytical services, but I also have had access to the internal web traffic data of one of the CIA's major industrial contractors (whoops! It was another point and click security breach. I blogged about it at the time, but don't have time right now to search for the link.) and was able to review patterns there as well.

RJH

[Uncle $cam]

And on a similar note..

This CIA Mission -- Better Contract-Workforce Management -- Isn't Classified

By Stephen Barr
Monday, June 11, 2007; Page D01

The CIA is taking on a project that many federal agencies avoid: sorting out which jobs must be performed by government employees and which jobs are appropriate for contract workers.

Based on the findings of an internal task force, the CIA plans to shrink its contract workforce, tighten up contracting procedures and pay more attention to how it manages contract employees. Officials hope to wrap up their plan by July 1.

It is a sensitive, perhaps awkward, undertaking inside the CIA.

In a message last month to CIA employees about the contractor workforce, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the CIA director, said contractors play a vital role at the agency. "We do not simply appreciate their skill and expertise -- we rely on it," he wrote.

Michael J. Morell, the CIA associate deputy director, stressed in an interview last week that "in no way is this something negative about contractors." The contract staff is just as passionate about the CIA's mission as the career cadre, he said.

[Richard Cooper]

So this is where all the bodies are buried! I'll bet the black helicopters are circling as we speak. Keep up the great blog. (Will you be at TFest next month?)

[The Greaseman]

Don't know about the Pentagon, but there will probably be a few people at Tyson's if the book is anything like the blog. Will it be on sale at the EAA bookstore in Hqs?

[R J Hillhouse]

Hi Richard,

Yup, I'll be at Thrillerfest next month, July 12-15 in NYC. It's always a blast and I recommend it to anyone who wants a chance to hang out with some of the top thriller authors.

I'm doing a panel on Friday, July 13, at 2 pm--something spy related. These are always fun.

[Richard Cooper]

Excellent - can't wait to be there myself as a fan. Spy stuff… yeah baby! It will be too hot and humid for trenchcoats, I'm afraid.