An Open the Books report has revealed the great extent to which the federal government is protected by highly-paid lawyers, and the numbers are staggering.

Adam Andrzejewski is the founder of the non-profit government watchdog group and his report states: "Today's federal government is protected by a pervasive army of attorneys. At a force size of 25,000, that’s bigger than a conventional combat division."

The combined salaries and bonuses for the lawyers is well over $26 billion. Half of the lawyers are based in Washington, D.C.

The Daily Caller summarized Open the Books' findings:

• In 2014, the top federal lawyer salary was $266,469.
• Salaries paid to more than 50 attorneys on the federal payroll topped $250,000 since 2007.
• Since 2007, 19 bonuses exceeded $50,000. The top bonus was $83,900 and the second largest was $62,895.
• If the attorneys working for the federal government formed a nation-state, it would rank 158th in global GDP, with $3.3 billion in annual spending. That’s more than combined GDPs of vacation paradises St. Lucia, the British Virgin Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Andrzejewski said it's not the lawyers fault "per se." The onus, he said, mostly falls on "the pleasure of entrenched politicians and bureaucrats." These immense figures highlight "the size, scope, expanse and inertia of today's federal government," he added.

Groups like Open the Books seek this level of transparency on behalf of taxpayers so they know exactly where their money is going and to hold the federal government accountable for what it does with tax revenues. Transparency was supposed to be an integral part of the Obama administration but that was a lie. Thankfully someone has our backs.