WASHINGTON (CN) – A researcher seeking budget records for intelligence support the CIA gave Israel told a federal judge that the agency is improperly claiming ignorance of its own policy.
Grant Smith, who runs the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, says he filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act to inspect the CIA’s funding for Israel-related intelligence.
The CIA denied the request by claiming it could neither confirm nor deny that such a budget exists, according to a federal complaint Smith filed Wednesday. Smith said he filed the suit after the agency did not respond to his appeal in the time allotted under the law.
The agency’s refusal to even acknowledge its support of Israel goes directly counter to public statements President Barack Obama made in August at American University, according to the action.
Smith says Obama touted his administration’s “unprecedented” financial commitment to Israel’s security through intelligence and military efforts in those remarks.
“We want to know, is it $3 billion a year?” Smith said in an interview Thursday. “Is it $3 million? Has it varied over time?” Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, despite the country’s history of spying and the presence of laws that should prevent such assistance to countries with nuclear stockpiles, Smith says in the complaint.