Classified Budgets and Congressional Corruption
Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nevada) helped to direct millions of dollars of classified contracts to one of his major campaign contributors, according to an astonishing account in the Wall Street Journal. (“Congressman’s Favors for Friend Include Help in Secret Budget,” by John R. Wilke, Wall Street Journal, November 1, sub. req’d.).
Coming in the wake of the bribery scandal involving Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA), the latest report underscores the potential for corruption in classified defense and intelligence budgeting.
Yet Congressional leaders have stubbornly resisted efforts to reduce budget secrecy.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal followed up on this aspect of the Gibbons story in a report yesterday.
See “Experts critical of secret defense budgeting system” by Aaron Sadler, Las Vegas Review-Journal, November 2.
Satellite imagery has long served as a tool for observing on-the-ground activity worldwide, and offers especially valuable insights into the operation, development, and physical features related to nuclear technology.
This year’s Red Sky Summit was an opportunity to further consider what the role of fire tech can and should be – and how public policy can support its development, scaling, and application.
The new alignment signals a clear shift in priorities: offices dedicated to clean energy and energy efficiency have been renamed, consolidated, or eliminated, while new divisions elevate hydrocarbons, fusion, and a combined Office of AI & Quantum.
We came out of the longest shutdown in history and we are all worse for it. Who won the shutdown fight? It doesn’t matter – Americans lost. And there is a chance we run it all back again in a few short months.