Central Intelligence Agency


The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the United States of America's
foreign intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analysing
information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and
reporting such information to the various branches of the US government. It
also maintains a vast covert military apparatus, responsible for many
attempts to depose foreign governments seen as opposing US interests, such
as those of Arbenz in Guatemala and Allende in Chile. Its headquarters is in
Langley, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

History

The Agency, created in 1947 by President Harry S Truman, is a descendant of
the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) of World War II. The OSS was
dissolved in October 1945 but William J. Donovan, the creator of the OSS,
had submitted a proposal to the President in 1944. He called for a new
organization having direct Presidential supervision, "which will procure
intelligence both by overt and covert methods and will at the same time
provide intelligence guidance, determine national intelligence objectives,
and correlate the intelligence material collected by all government
agencies." Despite strong opposition from the military, the State
Department, and the FBI, Truman established the Central Intelligence Group
in January 1946. Later under the National Security Act of 1947 (which became
effective on September 18, 1947) the National Security Council and the
Central Intelligence Agency were established.

In 1949, the Central Intelligence Agency Act was passed, permitting the
agency to use confidential fiscal and administrative procedures and
exempting it from many of the usual limitations on the use of federal funds.
The act also exempted the CIA from having to disclose its "organization,
functions, officials, titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed."
Some critics have charged that this violates a provision of the U.S.
Constitution that the federal budget be openly published.

The activities of the CIA are largely undisclosed. Like other intelligence
agencies, it collects information from a variety of sources, the vast
majority probably being public information in the countries concerned, but
also from individuals who for various reasons including bribes, blackmail,
and ideology, decide to pass otherwise secret information to the CIA. It
also undoubtedly makes use of the surveillance satellites and signal
interception capabilities of the NSA, including the Echelon system, and the
surveillance aircraft of the various branches of the US armed forces. At one
stage, the CIA even operated its own fleet of U-2 surveillance aircraft.

The agency also employs a group of officers with paramilitary skills.
Michael Spann, the CIA officer killed in November 2001 during the
Afghanistan conflict, was one such individual. A small number of other CIA
officers are confirmed to be working in similar roles in Afghanistan, but
the other paramilitary actions of the CIA since the Bay Of Pigs are largely
unknown.

Defectors such as Phillip Agee have alleged that CIA covert action is
extraordinarily widespread, extending even to propaganda campaigns within
allied countries of the United States. The agency has also been accused of
participation in the illegal drug trade, notably in Laos, Afghanistan, and
Nicragua. It is known to have attempted assassinations of foreign leaders,
most notably Fidel Castro, though since 1976 a Presidential order has banned
such actions although the order does not apply to wartime.

One of the CIA's publications, the CIA World Factbook, is unclassified and
is indeed made freely available without copyright restrictions. The factbook
forms the basis of most of the country entries in this Wikipedia.

In 1988, President George H. W. Bush became the first former head of the CIA
to become President of the United States.

The activities of the CIA have caused considerable political controversy
both in the United States and in other countries, often nominally friendly
to the United States, where the agency has operated (or been alleged to).
For instance, the CIA has supported various dictators, including Manuel
Noriega, who have been friendly to perceived US geopolitical interests,
sometimes over democratically elected governments.

The agency has also been criticized for ineffectiveness as an intelligence
gathering agency. These criticism included allowing a double agent, Aldrich
Ames to gain high positions within the organization, and for focusing on
finding informants with information of dubious value rather than on
processing the vast amount of open source intelligence. In addition, the CIA
has come under particular criticism for failing to predict the collapse of
the Soviet Union.

On November 5, 2002, newspapers reported that a car full of Al-Qaeda
operatives had been killed by a missile launched from a CIA-controlled
Predator drone (a high-altitude, remote-controlled aircraft).

CIA Directors

The head of the CIA is given the title Director of Central Intelligence
(DCI). The DCI is not only the head of the CIA but also the leader of the
entire U.S. intelligence community and the President's principal advisor on
intelligence matters. A list of DCIs (in chronological order) follows.

 Rear Adm. Sidney W. Souers, USNR          January 23, 1946 - June 10, 1946
 Lt. Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, USA          June 10, 1946 - May 1, 1947
 Rear Adm. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, USN    May 1, 1947 - October 7, 1950

 Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, USA             October 7, 1950 - February 9,
                                           1953

 Allen W. Dulles                           February 26, 1953 - November 29,
                                           1961
 John A. McCone                            November 29, 1961 April 28, 1965
 Vice Adm. William F. Raborn, Jr., USN
 (Ret.)                                    April 28, 1965 - June 30, 1966
 Richard M. Helms                          June 30, 1966 - February 2, 1973
 James R. Schlesinger                      February 2, 1973 - July 2, 1973

 William E. Colby                          September 4, 1973 - January 30,
                                           1976

 George H. W. Bush                         January 30, 1976 - January 20,
                                           1977
 Adm. Stansfield Turner, USN (Ret.)        March 9, 1977 - January 20, 1981

 William J. Casey                          January 28, 1981 - January 29,
                                           1987
 William H. Webster                        May 26, 1987 - August 31, 1991

 Robert M. Gates                           November 6, 1991 - January 20,
                                           1993

 R. James Woolsey                          February 5, 1993 - January 10,
                                           1995
 John M. Deutch                            May 10, 1995 - December 15, 1996
 George J. Tenet                           July 11, 1997 - present