CIA'S SECRET BOTTOM LINE SENATE PANEL DROPS PLAN FOR DISCLOSURE.(Main)

Byline: Tim Weiner Knight-Ridder

Under pressure from President Bush, Congress has canceled a proposal to unveil the secret "black budget" that pays for U.S. intelligence.

The Senate intelligence committee had voted to disclose the secret sum, the bottom line of the intelligence budget. CIA chief Robert M. Gates endorsed the idea during his confirmation hearings in September. He said the disclosure would show that "the mentality of the Cold War has changed" at the CIA and the White House.

Apparently it hasn't. Bush told the congressional intelligence committees he would veto the 1992 spending bill for the CIA and 11 other U.S. intelligence agencies …