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branch takes more than a year, beginning around November when the DNI provides guidance to the intelligence program managers. The crosswalks between the DNI and DOD—efforts to coordinate programs and to make difficult choices between programs—are major facets of the budget process. Crosswalks can take place at the program level or below and can go as high as the DNI and the secretary of defense. The budget process in the executive branch ends the following December, thirteen months after it began, with the DNI sending a completed intelligence budget to the president for final approval.

The following February the president’s budget goes to Congress, where a new, eight-month process begins. It consists of hearings in the authorization and appropriations committees, committee markups of the bills, floor action, conference committee action between the House and Senate to work out differences (both houses must pass identical bills), and final passage, after which the bill goes to the president to be signed. By this time, the executive branch is already working on the next budget. A major difference between the president’s budget and Congress’s should be kept in mind. The president’s budget is serious and detailed, but it is only a recommendation. Congress’s budget allocates money. Or, as the old saying goes. “The president proposes and Congress disposes.” Beyond this formal process is the increasing use of supplemental budget bills, which are appropriations above the amount approved by Congress in the regular budget process. Supplementals tend not to be favored by executive agencies as they may provide one-year money that is not sustained in the following years (see chap. 10 for more detail). For Congress, however, supplementals are a way to take care of agreed on needs without making long-term budget commitments.

Figure 3-4 Alternative Ways of Looking at the Intelligence Community: A Budgetary View

This seemingly endless process points up another important aspect of the intelligence budget. At any time during the year, as many as eight different fiscal year (October 1-September 30) budgets are in some form of use or development. (See box, “Eight Simultaneous Budgets.”) Two past fiscal year budgets are still in use, in the form of funds that had been appropriated previously. Although funds for salaries and similar expenses are spent in a single fiscal year, other funds—such as those to build highly complex technical collection systems—are spent over the course of several years. Funds also are being spent for the current fiscal year.

Figure 3-5 The Intelligence Budget: Four Phases over Three Years

EIGHT SIMULTANEOUS BUDGETS

Over the course of a fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), eight concurrent budgets are in some state of being. This shows the situation during fiscal 2009:Fiscal 2007 and 2008: Past fiscal years; some funds still being spent

Fiscal 2009: Current fiscal year, funds being spent

Fiscal 2010: Budget for the next fiscal year being developed by executive branch and Congress

Fiscal 2011: Intelligence program nearing completion

Fiscal 2012: Budget in early development in executive branch

Fiscal 2013 and 2014: Budgets in long-range planning in executive branch

The budget for the following fiscal year is going through the political processes. The budget for the year after that is being formulated by the executive branch and Congress. Finally, two future-year budgets are in various states of planning. A great deal of influence accrues to those individuals in both branches of government who can master the process and the details of the budget.

KEY TERMS

crosswalks

Deputies Committee

National Intelligence Priorities Framework

Principals Committee supplementals

FURTHER READINGS

The following readings provide background on the current organization and structure of the U.S. intelligence community. The list includes some studies of proposed changes that would enable the intelligence community to deal more effectively with the challenges it will face in the future.