Fergie's Tech Blog

Contractors Account For A Quarter Of U.S. Spy Operations

Greg Miller writes in The Los Angeles Times:

Private contractors account for more than one-quarter of the core workforce at U.S. intelligence agencies, according to newly released government figures that underscore how much of the nation's spying work has been outsourced since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The CIA and other spy agencies employ about 36,000 contractors in espionage-related jobs, in addition to approximately 100,000 full-time government workers, said Ronald Sanders, head of personnel for the U.S. intelligence community.

Contractors carry out missions including collecting intelligence in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as operating classified computer networks for the 16 spy agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community.

Sanders said the number of contractors remained steady over the last year, after surging in the years following the Sept. 11 attacks.

posted by Fergie @ 8/27/2008 10:57:00 PM