CIA/FBI Budget Fearmongering
============================

CIA/FBI budget fearmongering is John Kiriakou's account of how both agencies have historically justified budget increases to Congress. He says the FBI has never had a budget cut in its history, crediting J. Edgar Hoover's 48-year tenure for pioneering the tactic: appearing before the Appropriations committees every year and warning of coming catastrophes tied to a rotating cast of enemies, first anarchists, then communists, then fascists, then 1930s-era gangsters, then beatniks and drug users, then anti-war protesters.

Kiriakou says the CIA saw what Hoover was doing and adopted the same playbook, telling Appropriations committees simply "communism, communism" until 2001 and "terrorism" ever since, needing no further explanation to secure what he calls monstrous budget increases, especially after 9/11.

See also

- Central Intelligence Agency
- John Kiriakou
