Early U.S. "black budget"
The
Contingency Fund for Foreign Intercourse
(sometimes referred to as the Contingent Fund for Foreign Intercourse) was a
United States government
"
black budget
" program established in 1790 to fund covert operations primarily directed against Europe.
[1]
[2]
Three years later, it consumed 12% of the government's budget to help pay the ransoms of American hostages held by Barbary pirates. In 1846, it came under the scrutiny of Congress, but the government refused to provide details of the operation of the fund.
History
[
edit
]
The Contingency Fund was established at the request of President
George Washington
in July 1790 with an initial appropriation of $40,000. Within three years this amount had grown to more than a million dollars, consuming roughly twelve percent of the
United States federal budget
.
[3]
The terms of the appropriation the President to conceal the nature and purpose of expenditures made from the fund. Information about activities funded by the Contingency Fund are sparse, however, it is known they were generally
ad hoc
covert operations directed against
European
states.
[1]
[3]
In 1831 Senator
John Forsyth
described the purpose of the fund as one designed to finance the operation of "spies, if the gentleman pleases; for persons sent publicly and secretly to search for important information, political or commercial ... for agents to feel the pulse of foreign governments."
[2]
By 1846 the Contingency Fund had come under increasing congressional scrutiny.
Whigs
in the
United States House of Representatives
requested a full accounting of expenditures made under the fund during the just-completed administration of
John Tyler
, a request then-president
James Polk
rebuffed, declaring that "in no nation is the application of such funds made public."
[4]
In the 1880s the first permanent U.S. government intelligence services were established in the form of the
Office of Naval Intelligence
and the
Military Intelligence Division
.
[5]
Known operations financed by the Fund
[
edit
]
In its first year of existence, 1790, the fund was used to finance a sensitive diplomatic mission by
Gouverneur Morris
in
London
regarding outstanding boundary matters between the United States and United Kingdom. The first use of the fund to underwrite covert activities, meanwhile, occurred shortly thereafter when the United States secretly paid ransoms and tributes to the
Barbary States
for the release of American hostages and promises of non-interference with American shipping.
[6]
[7]
In 1812
James Madison
used $50,000 from the fund, equivalent to the cost of a naval
frigate
, to acquire the
Henry letters
, purported correspondence between alleged British spy
John Henry
and the
Governor-General of Canada
. The publication of the papers by Madison helped generate sufficient public outrage to secure the passage of the
United States declaration of war upon the United Kingdom
. Madison also tapped the fund to secretly finance paramilitary forces in
Florida
as a pressure against
Spain
.
[5]
[8]
[9]
According to a public statement made by president John Tyler,
Duff Green
was paid $1,000 from the fund to finance an operation in the
United Kingdom
in 1841 that influenced the appointment of the
Lord Ashburton
as the British negotiator in the
Maine-New Brunswick border dispute
. The ultimate settlement of that dispute resulted in the net transfer of about 2,000 square miles (5,200 km
2
) of territory to the United States by the United Kingdom, to the consternation of many in
Canada
.
[2]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Turner, Michael (2014).
Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence
. Rowman & Littlefield. p. xxi.
ISBN
978-0810878907
.
- ^
a
b
c
Warner, John (Summer 1987). "Where Secrecy is Essential".
Studies in Intelligence
: 45?52.
- ^
a
b
"The Evolution of the U.S. Intelligence Community-An Historical Overview"
.
fas.org
.
Federation of American Scientists
. Retrieved
5 November
2016
.
- ^
Robarge, David (Winter 2010). "Central Intelligence Agency and Public Accountability".
Journal of Intelligence History
: 112?113.
- ^
a
b
"History of American Intelligence"
.
cia.gov
.
Central Intelligence Agency
. Archived from
the original
on June 12, 2007
. Retrieved
5 November
2016
.
- ^
Knott, Stephen (1996).
Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency
.
Oxford University Press
. pp. 167?170.
ISBN
9780195100983
.
- ^
O'Toole, GJA (2014).
Honorable Treachery: A History of U. S. Intelligence, Espionage, and Covert Action from the American Revolution to the CIA
. Grove/Atlantic.
ISBN
978-0802192028
.
- ^
Richard W Leopold,
The Growth of American Foreign Policy: A History
(1962) p. 63.
- ^
Babcock, Kendric (1968).
The Rise of American Nationality, 1811?1819
. Ardent Media. pp. 63?68.