Special access program
Encyclopedia : S : SP : SPE : Special access program
Special access programs (SAP) and special access budgets (SAB) are the Pentagon's terminology when used to refer to black programs and black budgets, respectively. The terms were devised and put into circulation in the late 1980s during Ronald Reagan's presidency when Californian Democratic Representative Ronald V. Dellums apparently wearied of voting against "black programs"/"black budgets" and having to explain they referred to covert projects and accounting rather than anything to do with African-Americans; he succeeded in persuading his colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee's Research and Development Subcomittee to adopt the SAP and SAB phrases in their stead. The Pentagon and the NSA followed suit; the NSA's current director of special access programs, Renee Seymour, made headlines when he warned former intelligence officer Russ Tice not to testify before Congress on NSA programs.
Reference
- "A Revision in Jargon", The New York Times. 28 February 1989, pg. 12
External link
- [Article] from the Washington Times covering Seymour's warning to Tice
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