Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Government agency created in 1947 to research, analyze, develop, and deploy technology for intelligence-gathering purposes related to the national security needs of the United States.

During World War II, the armed forces, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS) were responsible for U.S. intelligence-gathering activities. At the end of the war, U.S. policymakers made plans to create a single agency to take over these various intelligence functions. They were aware that effective intelligence-collection capabilities would play a key role in the Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Establishment of the CIA

The development of a permanent foreign intelligence system was set in motion with the creation of the Central Intelligence Group (CIG) in January 1946 by the administration of President Harry S. Truman. Despite strong opposition from the military, the State Department, and the FBI, the CIG was assigned a dual mission: to provide strategic warning of hostile enemy activities through intelligence gathering and to conduct clandestine operations. Unlike the OSS, the CIG had access to intelligence from all branches of the military and government, giving it a larger and more comprehensive view of the global political and military situation.

The CIG functioned under the direction of the National Intelligence Authority (NIA), which was composed of a presidential representative and the secretaries of state, war, and the navy. Its first director was Rear Admiral Sidney W. Souers, a deputy chief of naval intelligence. In 1947, Congress reorganized the nation's intelligence-gathering apparatus with the passage of the National Security Act. This legislation dismantled the CIG and NIA and created two new bodies: the National Security Council (NSC) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The CIA was assigned the task of coordinating the nation's foreign intelligence activities. Intelligence gathering, analysis, and dissemination of information related to national security from other countries became its main role. In addition, the CIA was given responsibility for executing other intelligence-related duties as directed by the NSC.

Duties and Responsibilities

The director of central intelligence, as head of the U.S. intelligence community, acts as the principal intelligence adviser to the president. In addition to its role in the executive branch of government, the CIA consults with and briefs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Armed Services Committees in both houses of Congress, and individual members of government on matters of national security. Protecting intelligence sources and methods is the responsibility of the director.

In fulfilling its responsibilities, the CIA has traditionally been prohibited by law from engaging in law enforcement activities or domestic surveillance or intelligence gathering. The CIA carries out its responsibilities subject to various directives and controls of the president and the NSC. In practice, the CIA obtains and evaluates information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals and reports its findings to the various branches of the U.S. government.

[Page 113]The CIA maintains a vast covert military apparatus, which the agency has often used for clandestine activities against foreign governments, leaders, and citizens. It includes surveillance satellites of the National Reconnaissance Office, the signal-interception capabilities of the National Security Agency, and the surveillance aircraft of the various branches of the U.S. armed forces. In the past, the CIA operated its own fleet of U-2 surveillance aircraft.

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