CIA

General:

The CIA was established in 1947 under the National Security Act. The role of the CIA was to meet the need for international intelligence and to replace the OSS. The CIA, along with all other intelligence agencies, is headed by the United States Secretary of Defense. The CIA is considered to be one of the strongest members of the global "Intelligence Community"; second in manpower only to the KGB and perhaps the NSA.

The CIA’s director in part directs all other United States intelligence agencies including the FBI. The President appoints both the CIA Director and Deputy Director although the Deputy Director is generally promoted to Director. Although most CIA activities are confidential, many of the CIA’s activities are made public by one of its 17,000 employees.

Functions:

Many people consider the CIA to be a spy organization, but the vast majority of the CIA’s information is obtained from public sources such as magazines and newspapers. great deal of information is also gathered using agents and satellites, however. One of the biggest roles of the CIA is to not only obtain reconnaissance photos, but to analyze them quickly and effectively. As the United States has become less and less involved in international wars (cold wars or otherwise), the ability to analyze such photos has allowed the CIA to become closer to mainstream for the government. One of the most interesting functions of the CIA is its involvement in covert operations; such operations fall under what politicians call a "gray area". Although the CIA does not use military force abroad, it does help influence foreign situations by supplying and other forms of aid. Since the 1970’s, a time when intelligence agencies came under fire, the CIA has been slowly limited through reduced funding and government restrictions. These limitations indicate that since the Cold War the United States government is shifting its time and money from spying and intelligence to more peaceful actions.