Black Panther, Peanut Chocolate, Scooby Snacks? Classified contracts revealed
Wait for it, the juicy stuff is at the end
I’ve put together a list of 115 secret contracts worth billions of dollars that are used by agencies like the CIA, the NSA, and the National Reconnaissance Office, as well as the military and civil agencies like the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. Most of these aren’t X contract with Y company but they are contracting umbrellas, that is, they are broad contracting “vehicles” by which multiple companies contract and sub-contract. In other words, X contract funds everything about a specific weapon (or capability).
Except for many NSA contracting vehicles revealed in the Snowden documents, almost all of these codenames have never been published. The justification for all of this secrecy is that the work of some agency itself is beyond Top Secret, or that some piece of hardware that the contract supports (for instance, a spy satellite) is itself classified, or the program it supports (everything from the stealthy methods of the F-35 fighter jet to presidential Continuity of Government plans) has some designation of blanket secrecy. More than one hundred billion dollars are in the various “black budgets” that these are the mechanisms by which the money is spent, from the most pedestrian to the most secret covert actions.
Classified contracts might be the wrong phrase. Officially, a classified contract is one where the outside contractor is granted access to classified material in performing the work, whether that be manufacturing or consulting. These days, that includes almost everything dealing with intelligence or nuclear weapons or submarine warfare, certainly anything that reveals the tricks of the trade. Ninety percent of these classified contracts are fulfilled at the “Secret” level, are publicly announced and follow normal oversight, auditing, and security procedures as specified in the National Industrial Security Program (NISPOM).
But there are a category of contracts that involve sensitive compartmented information (SCI) or special access programs (SAPs) where the existence of the contract itself is classified information. These are commonly called “carve-out” contracts, where compliance with the NISPOM (and other open oversight measures) is suspended. The term carve-out technically only applies to the security function but it has come to include all of the functions from administration to audit. The normal agencies – and the normal Congressional oversight – have been “carved out” of the contract.
According to the Department of Defense NISPOM manual (DOD Manual 5220.32 Volume 1, August 1, 2018, with change 2, December 10, 2021): “When the SecDef or the Deputy Secretary of Defense determine that the security interests of DoD and the sensitivities of a SAP warrant, he or she may relieve DSS [Defense Security Service, now the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency] of this oversight responsibility and assign security cognizance to another DoD Component. When this occurs, the contracts are referred to as “carve-outs.” Generally, this mechanism is used when knowledge of the existence of a particular contract or its association with the SAP is classified and designated as SAP protected information.” In that regard, DOD Directive 5205.07, “Special Access Program Policy” (July 1, 2010, incorporating Change 2, February 4, 2020) says DCSA “will be relieved of this oversight function for DoD special access programs (SAPs) when the Secretary of Defense or the Deputy Secretary of Defense approves a carve-out provision …”
A 1983 (!) Government Accounting Office report (GAO/GGD-83-43) on the problem of accountability of these kinds of SAPs first described such carve-out contracts as justified where the “mere knowledge of the existence of a contract or of its affiliation with the Special Access Program is classified information.” That standard still applies today, 40 years later.
Half of the 115 carve-out contracts I’ve identified are administered by the NSA, the other half by unknown organizations (e.g., DNI, CIA, NRO, DIA, NGA, the services). Each contract has a specific codename, so that an organization might say ‘we are a prime contractor on the Island Hopper’ contract. One might think that saying this – particularly for publicly-traded companies – would be easier, but even the existence of the contracts is a secret. The 115 are:
NSA: Airglow, Airsteed, Ajax, Ambiance, Ambulate, Amod, Ampere, Arthur, Atlas/Axiss, Atlas/Highstreet, Bambootiger, Baybridge, Black Panther, Chewaway, Cidar, Cosmo, Cyberarrow, Foxmill, Frostymug, Gazelleapollo, Gazelleappian, Gazellethena, Greygoose, Griffin, Journeyman, Landmark, Masterpiece, Nana, Oceansurf, Oceanwave, Ocelot, Pathmaster, Peanutchocolate, Prioritycrawl, Radic, Reprise, Riptrack, Rodehouse, Sandcrab, Scoobysnacks, Scremingbuny, Screamingeagle, Semoran, Silentroar, Silverquarter, Silvertalon, Specklegift, Sunscape, Survivor, Teamweaver, Thoughtdare, Thundrajungle, Tuscanfire, Tuscanmoon, Tuscansun, Vanguard, Voxglo, Voyager, Vulture, Windward, Woodstock, Zues.
Intelligence community: Anvil, Broadside, Caretaker, Chaoticgood, Copper Sky, Debutante, Domino, Double Eagle, Eclipse, Everest, Fastmax, FOAM, Global Titan, Greenspire, Greenway, Gridiron, Grimlock, Haihara, Hidalgo, Hurricane Fan, IMAX, Iron Patriot, Island Hopper, Leatherback, Londinium, Luke, Luz, Magellan, Manchester, Mercury, Merlin, Metro, Newton, Nittany, Patriot, Pinto, Ponytail, Poppy, Pyramid, Red Viper, Rhapsody, Rose Finch, Serena, Serenade, Supernova Remnant, Sweet, Symphony, Tetra, Thudbeater, Tunable, Valdosta, Viking, Yellow Finch.
Go forth and Google.