CIA

CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) (USA) An intelligence agency established to collect, coordinate, and analyse foreign intelligence by the 1947 National Security Act in the executive Office of the President. The CIA grew out of the wartime Office of Strategic Services and the postwar Central Intelligence Group. During the 1950s it developed four subdirectorates: Intelligence, Operations, Science and Technology, and Administration. Under Director Allen Dulles (1953–61) its role was widened to include covert action projects, whereby clandestine projects against non-friendly states would be planned and financed, e.g. against Prime Minister Mossadeq of Iran in 1953 and President Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954. It was deeply involved in the Congo Crisis of 1960. Following the fiasco of the Bay of Pigs operation in Cuba in 1961 Kennedy sought to control its covert action projects, though he continued to use it to develop clandestine plans to eliminate Castro. Kennedy was rumoured to have expressed a wish to dismantle the CIA, but died before showing his hand. Kennedy was not very successful in the reforms which he did institute; the CIA intelligence on Vietnam was riddled with inaccuracy, and the CIA role in Latin America during the 1960s and 1970s helped to poison US relations with that part of the world. Although successful in its efforts to depose President Allende of Chile in 1973, the CIA failed to provide satisfactory intelligence for the Yom Kippur War or the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. CIA equipment and materials also found their way into the hands of the Watergate burglars. During the 1980s, the CIA was implicated in illegal activities in the Iran–Contra scandal, though directed in its role by key staff at the National Security Council. The overall success of the CIA has been difficult to evaluate, as failures attracted more attention than successes. However, the remarkable success of the CIA at breaking the Russian army code contributed to the failure of the October Putsch in 1993. The CIA faced stinging allegations for failing to track town Osama Bin Laden during the 1990s, and for misinterpreting signals that foreshadowed the September 11 attacks. Eventually, in May 2002 President George W. Bush announced the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. This was to take over the role of the CIA and the FBI in preventing terrorist acts on US citizens in the War on Terrorism.

http://www.cia.gov