The intelligence community is allowed to keep its budget secret . With this secrecy comes speculation that at least 50 % of the entire budget now flows to the private sector Abbot . It is also estimated that in the intelligence community much of the 15,000 analysts are drawing private-sector paychecks as a result of " butts in seats . " According to R.J. Hillhouse , " Defense Intelligence Agency ( DIA ) workers revealed at a conference in May that contractors make up 51 % of the staff in the DIA . " Hillhouse goes further to say that , " the CIA has a similar situation … between 50 % and 60 % of the workforce of the CIA 's most important directorate , the National Clandestine Service ( NCS ) … is composed of employees of for-profit corporations . " Hillhouse also says that , in terms of oversight the ratio is 1:25 ( one government employee supervising twenty-five private contractors ) , which means that it will " involve multiple companies and multiple layers of administration . " Since the September 11 attacks , U.S. telecommunications giants AT&T and Verizon have actually outsourced all their controversial NSA-mandated internet and telephone surveillance to the contractors Narus and Verint respective , both of which have close ties to Israeli intelligence services , although they maintain headquarters in the U.S
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Intelligence outsourcing