R. Jeffrey Smith

M - Z

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "Making Connections with Dots to Decipher U.S. Spy Spending: Panel's Report Indirectly Discloses Details It Urged Keeping Secret." Washington Post, 12 Mar. 1996, A11.

"When a presidential commission recently advocated disclosing the total amount being spent by the U.S. intelligence community, it warned that 'the disclosure of additional detail should not be permitted' for fear of giving away vital U.S. secrets.... Buried in the commission's 151-page report, however, is a chart that -- to a savvy observer -- provides a striking account of previously secret spy spending and personnel levels for four major intelligence organizations: the CIA, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and National Reconnaissance Office....

"Extrapolating from the chart, one can see that the big spender of the U.S. intelligence community is the National Reconnaissance Office, which builds and launches spy satellites at an annual cost of $6.2 billion to $6.3 billion....

"The chart also confirms that the most secretive spy organization -- the National Security Agency -- together with its various military service components employs the most people, a total of nearly 40,000 eavesdroppers and codebreakers. It appears to have an annual budget of around $3.7 billion. Although the commission never explicitly listed these figures, it said the NSA's size and budget are out of balance because too little money goes to improving its technological capabilities and too much (around 40 percent) goes to payroll. It recommended that the agency take some extraordinary personnel actions, including forcing more retirements.

"The chart also confirms that the CIA ... is considerably smaller than the NSA; it appears to employ slightly fewer than 20,000 people and has an annual budget of around $3.1 billion.

"The combined spy efforts of the military services and the Defense Intelligence Agency, in contrast, employ slightly more personnel than the CIA but cost a billion or so dollars less."

[GenPostwar/Budgets; Reform/90s/CommissionReport]

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "Pentagon Has Spent Millions on Tips from Trio of Psychics." Washington Post, 29 Nov. 1995, A1, A18.

[GenPostwar/Issues/Psychic]

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "State Dept. Concedes Errors in Terror Data." Washington Post, 10 Jun. 2004, A17. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]

The State Department's, Patterns of Global Terrorism, issued two months ago, suggested that the number of terrorist attacks around the globe "was at the lowest ebb in the past 34 years.... [H]owever, the report was pilloried by academics, a lawmaker [Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA)] and others. They said its math defied the reality of a steady growth in the number and significance of terrorist attacks in 2003, as well as the worst type of attacks spreading from just a few countries to at least 10." On 9 June 2004, "after reviewing the matter more carefully, the department formally conceded it made a few mistakes." Spokesman Adam Ereli said: "'We anticipate that a correction to the Patterns of Global Terrorism will be publicly issued as soon as possible.'"

[Terrorism/RefMats]

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "Top CIA Proliferation Aide, Facing Budget Cuts, Quits." Washington Post, 22 Oct. 1997, A19.

See also Steven Erlanger, "C.I.A. Official Quits Nonproliferation Post," New York Times, 21 Oct. 1997, A8 (N).

[CIA/90s/97/Gen]

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "An Unconventional Choice for the CIA: George Tenet's Route Passed Through Capitol Hill and the White House." Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 24 Mar. 1997, 32.

"After a bruising fight with Senate Republicans over the failed nomination of Anthony Lake, Tenet's support from key lawmakers in both parties was probably the decisive factor in Clinton's choice."

[DCIs/Tenet][c]

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "U.S. Agencies at Odds Over Response to American Slain in Guatemala." Washington Post, 5 Apr. 1995, A24.

[CIA/90s/95-96/Guatemala]

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "U.S. Data Aiding Macedonia." Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2001, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]

According to Macedonian officials on 20 March 2001, "U.S. forces in Kosovo are providing aerial photos and other military intelligence to Macedonian army officers.... At the Pentagon, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, a senior spokesman,... said, 'I am not aware of any unilateral U.S.-to-Macedonian exchanges.' But he said it is possible that the Macedonians had received information from a U.S. officer seconded to a NATO unit, and so working outside the U.S. chain of command."

[GenPostCW/00s/01]

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "U.S. Had Information in 1991 Tying CIA Informer to Killing." Washington Post, 24 Mar. 1995, A1.

[CIA/90s/95-96/Guatemala]

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "U.S. Officials Acted Hastily in Nuclear Test Accusation." Washington Post, 20 Oct. 1997, A1, A6-7.

It looks as though the event in Siberia that U.S. Intelligence Community analysts initially labeled a nuclear test was actually seismic in nature. See also Bill Gertz, "CIA Panel Gives Split View on Arctic Seismic Rumbling," Washington Times, 4 Nov. 1997, A6.

[CIA/90s/97/Gen]

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "U.S. Presses Greece for Action against Leftist Terror Group." Washington Post, 3 Nov. 1999, A30. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]

There have been at least five terrorist attacks carried out in Athens this year by a group known as November 17. The United States has been pressing the Greek police to bring the members of the group to justice since the assassination of CIA station chief Richard Welch in November 1975. "U.S. officials say they suspect that arrests of group members have been blocked by both a lack of official interest and active opposition within the Athens government. Senior Greek security officials have rejected the accusation."

[OtherCountries/Greece; Terrorism/99]

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "U.S. Widens Guatemalan Death Probe." Washington Post, 30 Mar. 1995, A1.

[CIA/90s/95-96/Guatemala]

Smith, R. Jeffrey. "Woolsey: At the CIA, a Cautious Moderate." Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 28 Dec. 1992-3 Jan. 1993, 12.

President Clinton's nominee for DCI, Robert James Woolsey, "is an engaging, politically cautious moderate" with ties to both political parties.

[CIA/DCIs/Woolsey][c]

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