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Public Budgeting
The Black budget is budget that was developed for secret programs, operations and other classified programs by the government of a given state. It usually relates to the expenses of covert operations and military research. All budget items of the black budget are classified as secret for security reasons. The United States has a black budget that is run by the department of defense for allocation of resources for black projects. The United States had an estimated black budget of $32billion in the year 2008 (Rubin 19). The budget was gradually increased to more than $50 billion in the year 2009 to cater for increased security needs in the country.
Recently the United States black budget was revealed to the United States Washington Post by Edward Snowden that provided details of the United States Black Budget that was estimated to be about $52.8 billion for the year 2012 (Rubin 23). The black budget in the United States covers a variety of agencies that are under the national intelligence program. All secret programs are secret given they are essential towards ensuring and enhancing the security of the country and its citizens. The overall defense budget has been reduced as a means of curbing public expenditure in the light of the financial recession of 2008 (Rubin 23).
However, the government has been increasing budgetary allocations for its secret or classified programs as means of keeping in line with evolving security needs in the country. In addition, the National Intelligence Program (NIP) and Department of Defense’s Military Intelligence Program (MIP) have been mandated to provide disclosures and their respective proposed budget estimates to the public (Rubin 26). This is in line with the public need for information on government spending. However, the disclosures are not made on the actual expenditures of the government agencies as a means of ensuring that details of the black budget are not disclosed to eternal threats of the country.
Work Cited
Rubin, Irene. The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting and Spending, Borrowing and Balancing. New York: Chatham House Publishers, 2013. Print