Top Secret America

Bravo to the Washington Times
for their in-depth 2 year investigation into
the United States national security and intelligence system
a report that the system itself did not want released to the public.

-845,000 people have top-secret security clearance,
nearly 1.5 times the population of Washington D.C.

-33 buildings built since 9/11 which house top-secret intelligence workers
occupy 17 million square feet of space in Washington & surrounding areas
the equivalent of almost 3 Pentagons, or 22 Capitol Buildings.

-263 government organizations created in response to 9/11

-1,271 government agencies counter-terrorist,
homeland security and intelligence programs in the U.S

-1,931 private contractors work with government
484 alone work for NSA (National Security Agency)
Coast Guard outsources work to 44 private contractors

-every day the NSA intercepts 1.7 billion e-mails, phone calls,
and "other types of communications"
sorting a fraction into 70 separate databases.

-most agencies do the same work creating redundancies and waste.
for example:
51 federal organizations in 15 cities track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks

-50,000 intelligence reports are published each year,
a volume so intense that many are ignored

A PBS Frontline documentary on the matter is in the cards: