View source for Contingency Fund for Foreign Intercourse

{{Short description|Early U.S. "black budget"}}
The '''Contingency Fund for Foreign Intercourse''' (sometimes referred to as the Contingent Fund for Foreign Intercourse) was a [[United States government]] "[[black budget]]" program established in 1790 to fund covert operations primarily directed against Europe.<ref name="turner"/><ref name="warner"/> Three years later, it consumed 12% of the government's budget to help pay the ransoms of American hostages held by Barbary pirates. In 1846, it came under the scrutiny of Congress, but the government refused to provide details of the operation of the fund.

==History==
[[File:WHOportTyler.jpg|thumb|right|An 1846 attempt by Whigs to obtain details of covert operations ordered by John Tyler, pictured, was rebuffed by then-president James Polk.]]
The Contingency Fund was established at the request of President [[George Washington]] in July 1790 with an initial appropriation of $40,000. Within three years this amount had grown to more than a million dollars, consuming roughly twelve percent of the [[United States federal budget]].<ref name="fas"/> The terms of the appropriation the President to conceal the nature and purpose of expenditures made from the fund. Information about activities funded by the Contingency Fund are sparse, however, it is known they were generally ''ad hoc'' covert operations directed against [[Europe]]an states.<ref name="turner">{{cite book|last1=Turner|first1=Michael|title=Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence|date=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0810878907|page=xxi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7KDYBAAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref name="fas">{{cite web|title=The Evolution of the U.S. Intelligence Community-An Historical Overview|url=http://fas.org/irp/offdocs/int022.html|website=fas.org|publisher=[[Federation of American Scientists]]|accessdate=5 November 2016}}</ref>

In 1831 Senator [[John Forsyth (Georgia)|John Forsyth]] described the purpose of the fund as one designed to finance the operation of "spies, if the gentleman pleases; for persons sent publicly and secretly to search for important information, political or commercial ... for agents to feel the pulse of foreign governments."<ref name="warner">{{cite journal|last1=Warner|first1=John|title=Where Secrecy is Essential|journal=Studies in Intelligence|date=Summer 1987|pages=45–52}}</ref>

By 1846 the Contingency Fund had come under increasing congressional scrutiny. [[Whig Party (United States)|Whigs]] in the [[United States House of Representatives]] requested a full accounting of expenditures made under the fund during the just-completed administration of [[John Tyler]], a request then-president [[James Polk]] rebuffed, declaring that "in no nation is the application of such funds made public."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Robarge|first1=David|title=Central Intelligence Agency and Public Accountability|journal=Journal of Intelligence History|date=Winter 2010|pages=112–113}}</ref>

In the 1880s the first permanent U.S. government intelligence services were established in the form of the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] and the [[Military Intelligence Division]].<ref name="cia"/>

==Known operations financed by the Fund==
In its first year of existence, 1790, the fund was used to finance a sensitive diplomatic mission by [[Gouverneur Morris]] in [[London]] regarding outstanding boundary matters between the United States and United Kingdom. The first use of the fund to underwrite covert activities, meanwhile, occurred shortly thereafter when the United States secretly paid ransoms and tributes to the [[Barbary States]] for the release of American hostages and promises of non-interference with American shipping.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Knott|first1=Stephen|title=Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency|date=1996|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=9780195100983|pages=167–170|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DgYxLklV7UwC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=O'Toole|first1=GJA|title=Honorable Treachery: A History of U. S. Intelligence, Espionage, and Covert Action from the American Revolution to the CIA|date=2014|publisher=Grove/Atlantic|isbn=978-0802192028}}</ref>

In 1812 [[James Madison]] used $50,000 from the fund, equivalent to the cost of a naval [[frigate]], to acquire the [[Henry letters]], purported correspondence between alleged British spy [[John Henry (spy)|John Henry]] and the [[Governor-General of Canada]]. The publication of the papers by Madison helped generate sufficient public outrage to secure the passage of the [[United States declaration of war upon the United Kingdom]]. Madison also tapped the fund to secretly finance paramilitary forces in [[Florida]] as a pressure against [[Spain]].<ref name="cia">{{cite web|title=History of American Intelligence|url=https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/6-12th-grade/operation-history/history-of-american-intelligence.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612225612/https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/6-12th-grade/operation-history/history-of-american-intelligence.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 12, 2007|website=cia.gov|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|accessdate=5 November 2016}}</ref><ref>Richard W Leopold, ''The Growth of American Foreign Policy: A History'' (1962) p. 63.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Babcock|first1=Kendric|title=The Rise of American Nationality, 1811–1819|date=1968|publisher=Ardent Media|pages=63–68|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7jlEpaxRWcC}}</ref>

According to a public statement made by President John Tyler, [[Duff Green]] was paid $1,000 from the fund to finance an operation in the [[United Kingdom]] in 1841 that influenced the appointment of the [[Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton|Lord Ashburton]] as the British negotiator in the [[Aroostook War|Maine-New Brunswick border dispute]]. The ultimate settlement of that dispute resulted in the net transfer of about {{convert|2,000|sqmi|km2}} of territory to the United States by the United Kingdom, to the consternation of many in [[Canada]].<ref name="warner"/>

==See also==
* [[United States Intelligence Community]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Intelligence agencies of USA}}

[[Category:Espionage]]
[[Category:United States intelligence agencies]]