On February 14, the Administration released the proposed fiscal year 2012 budget for the National Intelligence Program (NIP). NIP would receive $55 billion in FY ’12 versus $53.1 billion in FY ’10. The NIP includes funding for most of the non-military spy agencies and is not subject to the President’s freeze on non-security discretionary spending.

The $55 billion is the aggregate number for the intelligence agencies and no further detailed information was released.

President Obama broke precedent, becoming the first president to ever release the intelligence numbers on the same day as the rest of the federal budget. The president is required by law to disclose the total, but only after the current fiscal year ends. The president can choose not to release the numbers if he explains why doing so would harm national security.