Despite plenitude of Hollywood moving picture about the CIA and its spy , many people still do n’t sleep with what the agency actually does . In this article , we ’ll take a look at the history of the CIA and the scandal that have rock it through the decades . We ’ll see how the organization is structured today , who oversees it and what kinds of checks and balance are in place . We ’ll also take a look at how the undercover agent do their jobs – in other words , we ’ll see just how much of that Hollywood stuff is veridical .
The CIA support for theCentral Intelligence Agency . Its chief stated mission is to compile , evaluate and circularize foreign intelligence to assist the president and aged United States authorities policymakers in making decisions about national security . The CIA may also lock in covert action at law at the chairwoman ’s request . It does n’t make policy . It is n’t allowed to spy on the domestic activities of Americans or to participate in assassinations , either – though it has been accused of doing both .
ÂLike other aspects of the U.S. government , the CIA has a system of checks and residual . The CIA reports both to the executive and legislative branches . During the CIA ’s story , the amount of oversight has ebbed and flowed . On the executive side , the CIA must answer to three grouping – the National Security Council , the President ’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and the Intelligence Oversight Board .
The National Security Council is made up of the President , the Vice President , the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense . " The NSC advises the President on domestic , foreign and military issues that relate to interior security and provides steering , review and direction on how the CIA garner intelligence , " harmonise to the CIA Web internet site . The President ’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board comprises people from the private sector who learn how well the CIA is doing its job and the effectualness of its complex body part . The Intelligence Oversight Board is supposed to ensure that intelligence collection is done properly and that all intelligence gathering is sound .
On the legislative side , the CIA works principally with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence . These two citizens committee – along with the Foreign Relations , Foreign Affairs and Armed Services citizens committee – authorize the CIA ’s program and oversee the CIA . The appropriation committees seize monetary fund for the CIA and all U.S. government activities .
Speaking of finances , the CIA budget is secret and the agency is permit to keep its staffing , organizational structure , salaries and figure of employees unavowed under an act passed in 1949 . Here ’s what we do know : In 1997 , the entire budget for all U.S. governance intelligence activity and intelligence activity - bear on activity ( of which the CIA is a part ) was $ 26.6 billion . That was the first class the figure had been made public . In 1998 , the budget was $ 26.7 billion . The intelligence budget for all other class stay on classified . On the staffing front , the CIA employs about 20,000 people .
CIA HistoryThe United States has always engaged in foreign intelligence activities . Covert activity aided the patriots in winning the Revolutionary War . But the first courtly , organized agencies did n’t survive until the 1880s , when the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Army ’s Military Intelligence Division were created . Around World War I , the Bureau of Investigation ( the forerunner of theFBI ) ingest over intelligence activity - gather duties . The intelligence construction continued through several looping . For example , theOffice of Strategic Services , cognise as the OSS , was establish in 1942 and abolished in 1945 .
After World War II , U.S. leaders scramble with how to meliorate national intelligence . The Pearl Harbor bombardment , which brought the United States into World War II , was count a major intelligence failure .
In 1947 , President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act , which created the CIA . The act also created a director of central intelligence operation , who had three different roles : the president ’s principal adviser on security issue , the headspring of the entire U.S. intelligence community and the head of the CIA , one of the agencies within that intelligence operation community . This social structure was revised in 2004 , with the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act , which created the situation of director of national intelligence operation to oversee the intelligence biotic community . Now , the director of the CIA reports to the director of internal intelligence agency .
CIA StructureThe CIA is broken down into four different team , each with its own responsibilities :
National Clandestine ServiceThis is where the so - called " spies " employment . NCS employee go surreptitious abroad to collect foreign intelligence . They recruit agent to amass what is ring " human intelligence . " What kind of people work for the NCS ? NCS employees are broadly well - educate , jazz other languages , like to work with masses from all over the world and can conform to any site , include grave ones . Most citizenry , include their friend and family member , will never know precisely what NCS employee do . Later we ’ll take a looking at how the spies stay undercover and check out some of their cool gadgets .
Directorate of Science and TechnologyThe hoi polloi on this squad collectovert , or opened source , intelligence service . Overt intelligence consists of information that appear onTV , on theradio , in magazine or innewspapers . They also practice electronic andsatellitephotography . This team attracts mass who enjoy science and engineering .
Directorate of IntelligenceAll of the information gathered by the first two teams is turned over to the Directorate of Intelligence . Members of this squad rede the entropy and write reputation about it . A DI employee must have first-class writing and analytical skills , be comfortable present entropy in front of groups and be able-bodied to handle deadline pressure .
Directorate of SupportThis squad provide support for the residue of the organisation and handles things like hiring and preparation . " The Directorate of Support attracts the somebody who may be a specializer in a field such as an creative person or a finance officer , or a Renaissance man with many different talents , " according to the CIA Web site .
Next , we ’ll take a look at CIA scandals and learn more about spies .
Scandals and Spy Stuff
Spy Stuff
Most of the agency ’s overseas officers are under official cover , meaning they pose as employees of another political science agency , such as the state department . A much smaller telephone number are under nonofficial cover or NOC ( pronounced " belt " ) . This means they usually beat as employees of real international corporations , employee of faux company or as student . Valerie Plame worked as a NOC , pose as the employee of a shell company in Boston called Brewster - Jennings . NOC is more dangerous than having an prescribed cover , because if NOCs are caught by a foreign intelligence overhaul , they have no diplomatic granting immunity to protect them from pursuance in that country .
In anewspaper audience , an anonymous source said that he posed as a mid - tied administrator at multinational potbelly while collecting intelligence overseas for more than a decade . He worked several years as a business adviser before joining the agency , giving him a smashing resume for the NOC program . Senior executives at his book binding employer ’s were cognizant of his real job , but his coworkers Clarence Shepard Day Jr. - to - day were not . He carry out the normal duties that someone in his cover job would do , once even working on a $ 2 million deal . However , he also often spent three or four Night a week holding clandestine meeting .
There is plenty of lore about the cloak - and - sticker lives that spies lead . Some of it is just that – lore . On the other hand , spy through the twelvemonth really have used a sort of contraption and engineering to do their jobs . Some are now enshrined at the CIA Museum . highlight of the museum include :
Though the agency has had its share of failures and scandals , the administration still depends intemperately on the CIA to cater intelligence and assist with maintain national security . Although terrorist act intelligence is the CIA ’s current focusing , the United States will always have a need for counterintelligence , espionage and covert action .
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