The Washington Post released the second part of its comprehensive investigation into the national security apparatus of the United States, and like the bombshell it unleashed yesterday, this one also has the nation contemplating...are we getting our monies worth?
What started as a temporary fix in response to the terrorist attacks, has turned into a dependency that calls into question whether the federal workforce includes too many people obligated to shareholders, rather than the public interest -- and whether the government is still in control of its most sensitive activities. In interviews last week, both Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and CIA Director Leon Panetta said they agreed with such concerns.
Contractors are one element which affects the intelligence capabilities of this country, but the Department of Defense has its own contractor problems. The Post's estimate the 265,000 contractors doing top-secret work was vetted by several high-ranking intelligence officials who approved of The Post's methodology. The newspaper's Top Secret America database includes 1,931 companies that perform work at the top-secret levels. More than a quarter of them - 533 - came into being after 2001, and others that already existed have expanded greatly. Most are thriving even as the rest of the United States struggles with bankruptcies, unemployment and foreclosures.
The nation has to ask, are we getting the most bang for our buck, or are we just spending for perceived security?
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