The gist of the article looks at the redundancies within the intelligence arenas and how they've expanded since 9/11
UPDATE: Having just read it, personally while the numbers are large and it appears messy, in this day and age I just don't see this article getting the attention the authors want precisely because of it's complexity. Everyone's stuck on soundbites and we have day long "mini-storms" thanks to Politico that I just don't see this getting too far. Though, it should.
UPDATE II: This appears to be only part I. More parts coming.
According to the video, also in the article, this is the supposed 4th Branch of Government. Basically, the expansion of our intelligence realm has gone from a few areas near D.C. to thousands as a result of 9/11.
Top Secret America Article
Top Secret America Map
Top Secret America Link
Top Secret America Network Most Activities
Top Secret America Database searches
The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.
These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.
The investigation's other findings include:
* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.
* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.
* In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.
Included in this large article are maps, databases, and videos. This story is big, it's effectively about intelligence spending Post 9/11 and as to what the government should do about it.