The $9 Billion Secret

In a new report (pdf), The Information Security Oversight Office estimates that the costs of classification reached an impressive $9.2 billion in 2005. The estimate includes computer security and personnel clearance—both physical security requirements and the costs related to keeping people quiet. It does not include the secrecy costs of the CIA, which is too secret to relay the costs of its secrecy.

The estimates, tracked for the past 11 years, appear to trend upward sharply between—suprise!—2001 and the present. Reason exposes the administration's secrecy fetish here, here, here, and here.

Via Secrecy News.