[bestbits] Lawmakers overseeing NSA receive millions from private intelligence contractors

[Guru गुरु]

excerpt

“/Amid the NSA scandal, the House Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — the 
committees in charge of oversight — denied stricter reform attempts to 
the NSA programs and instead propelled legislation aimed at restoring 
their trust/,” John Schoffstall of the Capitol City Project remarked 
after seeing Shaw’s report. “/The committees are intended to keep waste, 
fraud and abuse in check given most of these programs are hidden from 
the general public/,” Schoffstall continued. Despite this, however, 
“*/Every single member on the committees received campaign contributions 
from the largest intelligence companies in the US performing services 
for the government/**,” *he said.

end excerpt


Conflict of interest is a serious problem especially in the IG space.... 
greater transparency, including of funding/ mandate etc. would help CS 
on both legitimacy and effectiveness aspects.

regards,
Guru



Lawmakers overseeing NSA receive millions from private intelligence 
contractors

Published time: December 13, 2013 22:31
Get short URL
<http://rt.com/usa/intelligence-contractors-fund-congress-220/>


US President Obama said last week that reforming the NSA in the midst of 
a major surveillance scandal could restore confidence in the government. 
Newly revealed connections between Congress and the private sector, 
however, may not do the same.

Officials from the executive and legislative branches have expressed an 
interest in reforming the NSA, especially in light of the ongoing and 
highly damaging leaks disclosed to the media by former contractor Edward 
Snowden. But a recent report has shed light on some ties between those 
in Washington who watch over the intelligence community and their 
financial bankers - the likes of which raise questions about just how 
serious lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives are about 
reigning in the NSA.

A study by Donny Shaw at the nonpartisan research organizationMapLight 
<http://maplight.org/content/73373>was published this week, and in it he 
explored the connections between the major industry players that provide 
the intelligence community with tools and the lawmakers that look over 
the NSA and other agencies.

Seventy percentof the intelligence budget is used to pay private 
contractors, Shaw acknowledged, and the corporations at the top of that 
list are among those that have received billions of dollars by the 
federal government in awards and contracts.

At the same time, however, those very companies and the political action 
committees (PACs) they’ve aligned with have long been padding the 
pockets of influential members of Congress.

According to research published this week by Shaw, PACs and individuals 
from the top 20 contractors with ties to the Pentagon have all 
contributed significantly to members of the House Permanent Select 
Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

“/In total, members of the House Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have 
received $3.7 million from top intelligence services contractors since 
January 1, 2005/,” Shaw reported, suggesting that lawmakers in those 
offices may be a bit hesitant to scale back the nation’s intelligence 
operations and, in turn, cut funding to the very contractors that are 
helping their campaigns.

With regards to contractors who have benefited heavily from government 
opportunities, L-3 Communications has been awarded more than $46 billion 
in federal funds for an array of jobs they’ve undertaken during the 
course of their relationship with Washington, according to the 
USAspending.gov website. But as of last month, L-3 has also handed over 
around $238,145 to the Senate and House intelligence committees.

Even with more than a quarter of a million dollars going directly to the 
lawmakers in charge of monitoring the intelligence community that relies 
on L-3’s products and services, the communications firm is hardly the 
most generous. Lockheed Martin has made contributions to those 
intelligence committee members in one form or another to the tune of 
around $798,901, according to Shaw’s research, and Northrup Grumman, 
Honeywell International, and General Dynamics have each awarded those 
committee members at least $675k a piece.

And how is that money divvied up? The Maplight research reveals that 
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Maryland) - the chairman of the House 
committee who also represents the district containing the NSA 
headquarters - is the largest recipient of intelligence contractor 
money, reaping in around $363,600 since 2005.

“/Amid the NSA scandal, the House Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — the 
committees in charge of oversight — denied stricter reform attempts to 
the NSA programs and instead propelled legislation aimed at restoring 
their trust/,” John Schoffstall of the Capitol City Project remarked 
after seeing Shaw’s report.

“/The committees are intended to keep waste, fraud and abuse in check 
given most of these programs are hidden from the general public/,” 
Schoffstall continued. Despite this, however, “/Every single member on 
the committees received campaign contributions from the largest 
intelligence companies in the US performing services for the 
government/,” he said.




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