I recommend reading "Top Secret America." It's really eye opening, and discusses the post-9/11 increase to our intelligence services and how that lead to the l

I recommend reading "Top Secret America." It's really eye opening, and discusses the post-9/11 increase to our intelligence services and how that lead to the large number of contractors. Importantly the authors note that in the increase in sheer number of employees/bureaucracy/contractors/duplicative effort, has lead to a worsening in the national security apparatus. I believe they're right. They also have a website here as it was in part a WaPo series: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/ http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/