CSE budget growth

Here's a chart of CSE's budget since 1995-96 (also shown is CSE's Personnel budget, which is of course included in the Total Budget line). All figures have been converted to 2011 dollars to account for the effects of inflation.

As the chart shows, CSE's budget was stagnant or even declining in the late 1990s. But then came The Day That Changed Everything: September 11th, 2001.

Since that day CSE's budget has skyrocketed.

CSE's 2011-12 budget is almost three times as large--in constant dollars--as it was in 2000-01. Its personnel budget is roughly two and a half times as large as it was then. Its actual number of staff has more than doubled, and is still growing.

The GWOT has truly been good to CSE. Other factors, notably the growth of the Internet and electronic communications in general, have also been in play. But there can be little doubt that it was Osama Bin Laden who turned on the money taps.