America's Secret Army: How The 'War On Terror' Created A New Spy Industry

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Jul 20, 2010, 8:21:41 PM7/20/10

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America's Secret Army: How The 'War On Terror' Created A New Spy Industry
In the cloak and dagger world of intelligence, the assumption fed by countless spy novels and TV dramas is that top-secret security clearance is restricted to an elite few known only by codes such as M and C. Not so in today's America. A new survey of the intelligence network created in the wake of the 9/11 attacks estimates that some 854,000 people have been given high-level clearance, making James Bond look decidedly everyday. The estimate comes from the Washington Post which has dedicated a team of reporters to a two-year project on what it calls "Top Secret America" In addition to the army of individuals, it has identified some 1,271 government bodies and 1,931 private contractors working on counter-terrorism. The creation of this extraordinary spider's-web of intrigue can be dated back to 16 September 2001, a week after the attacks, when George Bush announced from Camp David the launch of what he called a "war on terror". The war would take a while, he warned, and the American people would have to be patient, but he was determined. What he didn't warn the American people was that nine years later...