real beauty page goverment debt The United States has spent more than $500 billion on intelligence during that period, an outlay that U.S. officials say has succeeded in its main objective: preventing another catastrophic terrorist attack in the United States. Spending in the most recent cycle, $52.6 billion as detailed in the Snowden documents, does not include a separate $23 billion devoted to intelligence programs that more directly support the U.S. military.