December 14, 2004
By Tabassum Zakaria
Wired News
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department has been asked to investigate the leak of details of a secret spy program which media reports say would involve spending $9.5 billion to build stealth spy satellites, government sources said on Tuesday.
The sources said a U.S. intelligence agency had referred the issue to the department, but did not identify the agency. The National Reconnaissance Office, which builds spy satellites, declined to comment.
The Washington Post said on Saturday the classified program was for a new generation of spy satellites designed to orbit undetected. It cited U.S. officials as saying its projected cost had almost doubled to nearly $9.5 billion from $5 billion.
That would make the program probably the largest single item in the estimated $40 billion intelligence budget, which is also classified.
Separately, Senate Republican leaders are considering taking action against Democrats who publicly referred obliquely to the program saying it was wasteful.
Possible action could include a referral to the Ethics Committee or a public rebuke.
Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, spoke on the Senate floor last week spoke about his opposition to funding an intelligence program that he considered wasteful.
Rockefeller did not describe the program in any detail and referred to it only as a major funding acquisition program.
Wendy Morigi, spokeswoman for Rockefeller said at the time: "Senator Rockefeller's reference to this program, which was fully vetted and approved by security officials, makes the point that continuing to fund an enormously expensive, unjustified, and wasteful program is dangerous to our national security."
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