Psst! Hiding Spy Costs Goes Back to 1790
Published: March 6, 1996
To the Editor:
Your March 1 news article regarding a Presidential commission's recommendations on United States spy services states that "though the Constitution calls for 'a regular statement and account' of all public spending, intelligence financing is buried in false line items in the Pentagon's budget and has been for 50 years."
The architects of the Constitution would be surprised to see "buried" intelligence described as a 50-year-old practice. Intelligence expenditures have been concealed since 1790, when the first Congress, in response to a request from President Washington, agreed to provide the chief executive with a contingency fund for secret services.
Though there was no Pentagon or intelligence bureaucracy at the time, the fund did allow the President to hire freelance spies and covert operators without reporting to Congress.
The practice begun by Washington was continued by Jefferson and Madison, along with almost all of America's 19th-century Presidents. As we consider the future of the American intelligence community, we would do well to learn more about the Founders' views on secrecy and executive control of clandestine foreign policy.
STEPHEN F. KNOTT Colorado Springs, March 1, 1996 The writer is an assistant professor of political science, United States Air Force Academy.