The Federation of American Scientists filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit today against the Central Intelligence Agency to compel the disclosure of the total intelligence budget.

The lawsuit cited 1996 Congressional testimony by then-Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch that "the President is persuaded that disclosure of the annual amount appropriated for intelligence purposes will inform the public and not, in itself, harm intelligence activities."

In apparent defiance of the President's views, and in violation of the Freedom of Information Act, the CIA has refused to disclose the budget total. Meanwhile, a Congressional amendment to require publication of the budget total was rejected by the House last year by a vote of 176- 248.

"Budget secrecy today illustrates both the corruption of CIA information policy and the inadequacy of Congressional oversight," said Steven Aftergood, director of the FAS Project on Government Secrecy and the plaintiff in the FOIA lawsuit.

"Neither CIA nor Congress has been able to shake this budget number loose-- so we are going to," Aftergood said.

FAS is represented in the FOIA lawsuit by Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies (tel. 202-994-7060).

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has recently introduced a bill (HR 753) that would mandate publication of the total intelligence budget request each year, as well as the amount appropriated. (Contact: Carl LeVan, 202-225-5126).

A copy of the FAS FOIA complaint follows.

(For further details go to http://www.fas.org/sgp/foia/ciafoia.html)

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The Federation of American Scientists is engaged in analysis and advocacy on science, technology and public policy for global security. A privately-funded non-profit policy organization whose Board of Sponsors includes over 55 American Nobel Laureates, FAS was founded as the Federation of Atomic Scientists in 1945 by members of the Manhattan Project who produced the first atomic bomb.

For contact on this issue, call: Steven Aftergood (202) 675-1012

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