Voice of America News, In a rare step, U.S. government officials have disclosed the country's 2007 national intelligence budget to be more than $43 billion.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell revealed the figure Tuesday to comply with a new law requiring the disclosure of overall intelligence spending.
McConnell said there would be no additional disclosures of classified budget information beyond the overall $43 billion spending figure because such disclosures could harm national security.
The 2007 budget includes funding for the Central Intelligence Agency, The Defense Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation intelligence programs. It does not include the budgets for military intelligence programs.
Tuesday's disclosure was part of the recommendations put forth by the September 11th Commission.
The last intelligence spending figure made public was in 1998, when the U.S. said it was roughly $27 billion.
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