Posted on 05/15/2009 7:14:48 PM PDT by Shellybenoit
The Johnstown based National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) began with the blessing of President George HW Bush. Its mission: to collect and coordinate intelligence from often-feuding law enforcement agencies in order to provide a strategic look at the war on drugs (it was still called that at the time). But the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), worried that its pre-eminent role in the drug war was slipping away, fought the idea "tooth and nail". So did many on Capitol Hill, arguing that the new center would duplicate the efforts of existing intelligence centers, notably the El Paso Intelligence Center, operated by the DEA. With little support in the law enforcement community, the NDIC looked all but dead. Enter the King of Pork, John Murtha. Murtha hid the enabling legislation for the NDIC into a Pentagon authorization bill, with the caveat that it would be placed in his district (surprise, surprise).
From day one, the NDIC was thought of as the ultimate wasteful project, this from a Pittsburgh TV Station:
(Excerpt) Read more at yidwithlid.blogspot.com ...
Well, we need to keep pumping billions of government pork into Johnstown to justify the millions spent on the Murtha airport. Take away government pork, and Johnstown is a ghost town.
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