The US Department of Defense published the MIP’s budget for the previous fiscal year on Wednesday, noting the $23.1 billion figure includes both the base budget awarded by Congress and Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) appropriations.
“The department has determined that releasing this top line figure does not jeopardize any classified activities within the MIP,” the news release states. “No other MIP budget figures or program details will be released, as they remain classified for national security reasons.”
Unfortunately, that’s all the Pentagon has to say on the topic. A similarly laconic news release in February notes the DoD requested the same amount of money for fiscal year 2021.
Sputnik reported in May that the OCO budget was one of those sapped by the White House to provide US President Donald Trump with the funding he wanted for the US-Mexico border wall but couldn’t get through normal legislative measures. Much of the budget is used for construction projects at facilities abroad, including bases and embassies.
The MIP was established in 2005, marrying the formerly separate offices of Army Military Intelligence, the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, Marine Corps Intelligence Activity, the Office of Naval Intelligence and US Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
“The MIP is devoted to intelligence activity conducted by the military departments and agencies in the Department of Defense that support tactical US military operations,” according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which was created the year prior to the MIP to oversee the United States’ 17 intelligence agencies. “In addition, other departments and agencies may engage in certain activities related to intelligence for their own mission needs that are not captured here.”
The last time the MIP’s budget was this high was in fiscal year 2011, which ran from October 2010 to September 2011, when the MIP received $24 billion, according to a Congressional Research Service report from last year. In fiscal year 2019, the MIP received $21.2 billion.
