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Central Intelligence Agency

"CIA" redirects here. For other uses, see CIA (disambiguation).

Central Intelligence Agency
Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency
Flag of the Central Intelligence Agency

George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia
Agency overview
FormedSeptember 18, 1947 (1947-09-18)
Preceding agency
TypeIndependent (component of the Intelligence Community)
HeadquartersGeorge Bush Center for Intelligence, Langley, Virginia, U.S.
38°57′07″N 77°08′46″W / 38.95194°N 77.14611°W / 38.95194; -77.14611
Motto(Official): The Work of a Nation. The Center of Intelligence.
(Unofficial): And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)[2]
Employees21,575 (estimate)[3]
Annual budget$15 billion (as of 2013)[3][4][5]
Agency executives
Parent departmentOffice of the President of the United States
Parent agencyOffice of the Director of National Intelligence
Child agencies
Websitecia.gov

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA /ˌsiː.aɪˈeɪ/), known informally as the Agency,[6] metonymously as Langley[7] and historically as the Company,[8] is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT) and conducting covert action through its Directorate of Operations. The agency is headquartered in the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia.

As a principal member of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the director of national intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the president and Cabinet. The agency's founding followed the dissolution of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) at the end of World War II by President Harry S. Truman, who created the Central Intelligence Group under the direction of a director of central intelligence by presidential directive on January 22, 1946.[9] The agency's creation was authorized by the National Security Act of 1947.

Unlike the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is a domestic security service, the CIA has no law enforcement function and is mainly focused on intelligence gathering overseas, with only limited domestic intelligence collection.[10] The CIA serves as the national manager for HUMINT, coordinating activities across the IC. It also carries out covert action at the behest of the president.[11][12]

The CIA exerts foreign political influence through its paramilitary operations units, including its Special Activities Center.[13] The CIA was instrumental in establishing intelligence services in many countries, such as Germany's Federal Intelligence Service. It has also provided support to several foreign political groups and governments, including planning, coordinating, training in torture, and technical support. It was involved in many regime changes and carrying out terrorist attacks and planned assassinations of foreign leaders.[14][3]

Since 2004, the CIA is organized under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Despite having had some of its powers transferred to the DNI, the CIA has grown in size following the September 11 attacks. In 2013, The Washington Post reported that in the fiscal year 2010, the CIA had the largest budget of all intelligence community agencies, exceeding prior estimates.[3][15]

The CIA's role has expanded since its creation, now including covert paramilitary operations.[3] One of its largest divisions, the Information Operations Center (IOC), has shifted from counterterrorism to offensive cyber operations.[16]

The agency has been the subject of several controversies, including its use of torture, domestic wiretapping, propaganda, and alleged human rights violations and drug trafficking. In 2022, a CIA domestic surveillance program was uncovered that had not been subject to congressional oversight.[17][18]

  1. ^ "History of the CIA". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on June 12, 2007. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  2. ^ "CIA Observes 50th Anniversary of Original Headquarters Building Cornerstone Laying". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on March 24, 2010. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e Gellman, Barton; Miller, Greg (August 29, 2013). "U.S. spy network's successes, failures and objectives detailed in 'black budget' summary". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 1, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  4. ^ Kopel, Dave (July 28, 1997). "CIA Budget: An Unnecessary Secret". Cato Institute. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
  5. ^ "Cloak Over the CIA Budget". The Washington Post. November 29, 1999. Archived from the original on September 16, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2008 – via Federation of American Scientists.
  6. ^ L. Britt Snider (2008), The Agency and the Hill, CIA's Relationship with Congress, 1946-2004, Center for the Study of Intelligence, CIA, ISBN 978-1-929667-17-8
  7. ^ "Central Intelligence Agency | Encyclopedia.com". Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  8. ^ "Appeals: the Company". Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  9. ^ "71. Presidential Directive on Coordination of Foreign Intelligence Activities". U.S. State Department Historian. January 22, 1946. Archived from the original on July 12, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  10. ^ "How does the FBI differ from the Central Intelligence Agency?". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  11. ^ "Additional pre-hearing questions for Mr. John O. Brennan upon his nomination to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency" (PDF). Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 17, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  12. ^ Woodward, Bob (November 18, 2001). "Secret CIA Units Playing Central Combat Role". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  13. ^ Phillips, Tom (October 23, 2006). "Paraguay in a spin about Bush's alleged 100,000 acre hideaway". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
  14. ^ Greg Grandin (2011). The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War Archived July 29, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. University of Chicago Press. p. 75 Archived October 31, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. ISBN 9780226306902.
  15. ^ Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community (March 1, 1996). "Preparing for the 21st Century: An Appraisal of U.S. Intelligence. Chapter 13 – The Cost of Intelligence". Archived from the original on December 12, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
  16. ^ Gellman, Barton; Nakashima, Ellen (September 3, 2013). "U.S. spy agencies mounted 231 offensive cyber-operations in 2011, documents show". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 6, 2018. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  17. ^ Savage, Charlie (June 6, 2023). "CIA is Collecting in Bulk Certain Data Affecting Americans, Senators Warn - The New York Times". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 18, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  18. ^ "The CIA has secretly been collecting [REDACTED]". The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. February 22, 2022. Archived from the original on January 31, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2024.

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