WASHINGTON – The Washington Post has revealed a collection of clauses from the US government's top secret $52.6 billion "black budget," meant to finance the special operations of the intelligence services, including counterintelligence operations against Israel.

The 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Program, which was obtained by the Washington Post from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, states that US intelligence officials take an active interest in foes as well as friends. Pakistan is described in detail as an "intractable target," and counterintelligence operations "are strategically focused against (the) priority targets of China, Russia, Iran, Cuba and Israel."

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The Washington Post reported that according to the government’s top secret budget, US spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats.

Edward Snowden in Moscow (Photo: AP)

Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending since 2007, it has not divulged how it uses those funds or how it performs against the goals set by the president and Congress, the newspaper said.

In response to inquiries from The Washington Post, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said the US has made a "considerable investment in the Intelligence Community since the terror attacks of 9/11, a time which includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technology, and asymmetric threats in such areas as cyber-warfare.

"Our budgets are classified as they could provide insight for foreign intelligence services to discern our top national priorities, capabilities and sources and methods that allow us to obtain information to counter threats," he said.

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