If This Is Transparency, I Would Hate to Know What Secrecy Looks LikeBy Claire Bernish According to a press release from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), fiscal year 2017s budget totals $53.5 billion, but dont ask which agencies or programs will receive the funds because such disclosures could harm national security. Indubitably. Of course, the ODNI congratulated the self-titled most transparent administration in history for its laudatory lucidity, anyway. Reflecting the Administrations commitment to transparency and open government, this Budget continues the practice begun in 2012 of disclosing the Presidents aggregate funding requests for the [National Intelligence Program], stated an ODNI fact sheet. Considering such disclosures became a requirement under the lawin 2010, that pat on the back seems superfluous, if not smug. Thats a business as usual claim, said Representative Peter Welch,according to US News World Report. There is no transparency there theyre complying with the thinnest of laws about the [aggregate budget] number. Members of Congress and the American public really are learning nothing. US News also reported Welch first learned of the 16 individual intelligence agencies budget allocations, along with the rest of the U.S. populace, thanks to Edward Snowdens disclosures revealed by the Washington Postin 2013. Welch also explained that although members of Congress arent restricted from viewing the specifics of intelligence program appropriations, they are prohibited from discussing the contents Its like going in there with a blindfold and coming out being mute, he mused. In fact, objecting to the classified budget allotments would mean being escorted off the House floor in handcuffs though it wasnt entirely apparent whether Welch intended sarcasm in saying so. Despite the revelations in Snowdens massive document releases, and his ambitious aspirations to bring transparency to governmental operations, the Obama administration continues to thwart attempts to force the matter and not only will it continue to do so, but administrations that follow will almost certainly continue the pattern. In the meantime, it should come as no shock that we will never be completely privy to the intelligence programs we fund through our taxes. This article (If This Is Transparency, I Would Hate to Know What Secrecy Looks Like) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution toClaire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org. Claire Bernish joined Anti-Media as an independent journalist in May of 2015. Her topics of interest include thwarting war propaganda through education, the refugee crisis related issues, 1st Amendment concerns, ending police brutality, and general government corporate accountability. Born in North Carolina, she now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. What a minute. the obama administration is as clear as muddy water. in the middle of a hurricane Always be a light that is .shininginthedark. 