WASHINGTON, (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama’s 2016 budget proposal includes almost $54 billion in funding for the National Intelligence Program (NIP), including investment in enhancing intelligence collection capabilities, a NIP document released on Monday said.
“$53.9 billion in discretionary funding for the National Intelligence Program to support national security goals… includes sustaining key investments to strengthen intelligence collection and critical operational capabilities,” according to the NIP document.
“The Intelligence Community continues to strengthen collection and lead operations to defeat al-Qaeda and other violent extremists; identify and disrupt counterintelligence threats; prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and provide strategic warning to policymakers on issues of geopolitical and economic concern,” the document explained.
Concerns over privacy violations have been raised following the disclosure of the National Security Agency (NSA) mass surveillance programs by the whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013.
Snowden’s leak of classified documents revealed that NSA runs massive surveillance programs without a warrant and searches through databases for private information concerning US citizens, foreigners and leaders of allied countries.
