Central Intelligence Agency

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Central Intelligence Agency
Official Seal of the CIA
Agency overview
Formed	September 18, 1947
Preceding agency	Central Intelligence Group
Headquarters	Langley, McLean, Virginia United States 38°57′06″N 77°08′48″W / 38.951796°N 77.146586°W / 38.951796; -77.146586
Employees	Classified[1][2] 20,000 estimated[3]
Annual budget	Classified[4][5] Less than $26.7 billion in 1998[1]
Agency executives	Leon Panetta, Director Stephen Kappes, Deputy Director Scott White, Associate Deputy Director
Website
www.cia.gov

The entrance of the CIA Headquarters

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.

It is an independent agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers.

It is the successor of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) formed during World War II to coordinate espionage activities between the branches of the United States military. The 1947 National Security Act established the CIA, affording it "no police or law enforcement functions, either at home or abroad". One year later, this mandate was expanded to include "sabotage, anti-sabotage, demolition and evacuation measures...subversion [and] assistance to underground resistance movements, guerrillas and refugee liberation movements, and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in threatened countries of the free world".^[6]

The CIA's primary function is to collect information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and to advise public policymakers. The agency conducts covert operations and paramilitary actions, and exerts foreign political influence through its Special Activities Division. The CIA and its responsibilities changed markedly in 2004. Before December 2004, the CIA was the main intelligence organization of the US government; it coordinated and oversaw not only its own activities but also the activities of the US Intelligence Community (IC) as a whole. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 created the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), which took over some of the government and IC-wide functions. The DNI manages the IC and therefore the intelligence cycle. The functions that moved to the DNI included the preparation of estimates of the consolidated opinion of the 16 IC agencies, and the preparation of briefings for the President of the United States.

Today, the CIA still has a number of functions in common with other countries' intelligence agencies; see Relationships with foreign intelligence agencies. The CIA's headquarters is in Langley in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,^[7] a few miles west of Washington, DC along the Potomac River.

Sometimes, the CIA is referred to euphemistically in government and military parlance as Other Government Agencies (OGA), particularly when its operations in a particular area are an open secret.^[8][9] Other terms include The Company.^{[10][11][12][13]} and The Agency.

Organization

In its present form, the CIA has an executive office and several agency-wide functions, and four major directorates:

• The Directorate of Intelligence, responsible for all-source intelligence research and analysis
• The National Clandestine Service, formerly the Directorate of Operations, which does clandestine intelligence collection and covert action
• The Directorate of Support
• The Directorate of Science and Technology

Budget

The overall US intelligence budget has been considered classified until recently. There have been numerous attempts to get general information^[14] and there have also been accidental disclosures:^[15] for instance, Mary Margaret Graham, a former CIA official and deputy director of national intelligence for collection in 2005, said the annual intelligence budget was $44 billion.

Executive Office

The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI); in practice, he deals with the DNI, Congress (usually via the Office of Congressional Affairs), and the White House, while the Deputy Director is the internal executive. The CIA has varying amounts of Congressional oversight, although that is principally a guidance role.^{[citation needed]}

The CIA Executive Office also facilitates CIA’s support of the US military by providing it with information it gathers, receiving information from military intelligence organizations, and cooperating on field activities. Two senior executives have responsibility, one CIA-wide and one for the National Clandestine Service. The Associate Director for Military Support, a senior military officer, manages the relationship between CIA and the Unified Combatant Commands, who produce regional/operational intelligence and consume national intelligence; he is assisted by the Office of Military Affairs in providing support to all branches of the military.^[16]

In the National Clandestine Services, an Associate Deputy Director for Operations for Military Affairs^[17] deals with specific clandestine human-source intelligence and covert action in support of military operations.

The CIA also makes national-level intelligence available to tactical organizations, usually to their all-source intelligence group.^[18]

Executive Staff

Staff offices with several general responsibilities report to the Executive Office.

General Publications

The CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence maintains the Agency's historical materials and promotes the study of intelligence as a legitimate discipline.^[19]

In 2002, the CIA's Sherman KentSchool for Intelligence Analysis began publishing the unclassified Kent Center Occasional Papers, aiming to offer "an opportunity for intelligence professionals and interested colleagues—in an unofficial and unfettered vehicle—to debate and advance the theory and practice of intelligence analysis."^[20]

General counsel and inspection

Two offices advise the Director on legality and proper operations. The Office of General Counsel advises the Director of the CIA on all legal matters relating to his role as CIA director and is the principal source of legal counsel for the CIA.

The Office of Inspector General promotes efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability in the administration of Agency activities, and seeks to prevent and detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. The Inspector General, whose activities are independent of those of any other component in the Agency, reports directly to the Director of the CIA.^[21][22]

Public Affairs

The Office of Public Affairs advises the Director of the CIA on all media, public policy, and employee communications issues relating to his role. This office, among other functions, works with the entertainment industry.^{[citation needed]}

Directorate of Intelligence

The Directorate of Intelligence produces all-source intelligence analysis on key foreign issues.^[23] It has four regional analytic groups, six groups for transnational issues, and two support units.^[24]

Regional groups

There is an Office dedicated to Iraq, and regional analytical Offices covering:

• The Office of Middle East and North Africa Analysis (MENA)
• The Office of South Asia Analysis (OSA)
• The Office of Russian and European Analysis (OREA)
• The Office of East Asian, Pacific, Latin American and African Analysis (APLAA)

Transnational groups

The Office of Terrorism Analysis^[25] supports the National Counterterrorism Center in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. See CIA transnational anti-terrorism activities.

The Office of Transnational Issues^[26] assesses perceived existing and emerging threats to US national security and provides the most senior policymakers, military planners, and law enforcement with analysis, warning, and crisis support.

The CIA Crime and Narcotics Center^[27] researches information on international crime for policymakers and the law enforcement community. As the CIA has no legal domestic police authority, it usually sends its analyses to the FBI and other law enforcement organizations, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States Department of Justice.

The Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control Center^[28] provides intelligence support related to national and non-national threats, as well as supporting threat reduction and arms control. It receives the output of national technical means of verification.

The Counterintelligence Center Analysis Group^[29] identifies, monitors, and analyzes the efforts of foreign intelligence entities, both national and non-national, against US government interests. It works with FBI personnel in the National Counterintelligence Executive of the Director of National Intelligence.

The Information Operations Center Analysis Group.^[30] deals with threats to US computer systems. This unit supports DNI activities.

Support and general units

The Office of Collection Strategies and Analysis provides comprehensive intelligence collection expertise to the Directorate of Intelligence, to senior Agency and Intelligence Community officials, and to key national policymakers.

The Office of Policy Support customizes Directorate of Intelligence analysis and presents it to a wide variety of policy, law enforcement, military, and foreign liaison recipients.

National Clandestine Service

In 2004, the CIA was given charge of all US human intelligence, which many consider the core of the agency.^{[citation needed]} As such, the National Clandestine Service (NCS; formerly the Directorate of Operations) is responsible for collecting foreign intelligence, mainly from clandestine HUMINT sources, and covert action. The new name reflects its having absorbed some Department of Defense HUMINT assets. The NCS was created in an attempt to end years of rivalry over influence, philosophy and budget between the United States Department of Defense and the CIA. The Department of Defense had organized the Defense HUMINT Service,^[31] which, with the Presidential decision, became part of the NCS.

The precise present organization of the NCS is classified.^[32]

Directorate of Science and Technology

The Directorate of Science & Technology was established to research, create, and manage technical collection disciplines and equipment. Many of its innovations were transferred to other intelligence organizations, or, as they became more overt, to the military services.

For example, the development of the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft was done in cooperation with the United States Air Force. The U-2's original mission was clandestine imagery intelligence over denied areas such as the Soviet Union.^{[citation needed]} It was subsequently provided with signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence capabilities, and is now operated by the Air Force.

Imagery intelligence collected by the U-2 and reconnaissance satellites was analyzed by a DS&T organization called the National Photointerpretation Center (NPIC), which had analysts from both the CIA and the military services. Subsequently, NPIC was transferred to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

The CIA has always shown a strong interest in how to use advances in technology to enhance its effectiveness. This interest has historically had two primary goals:

• harnessing techniques for its own use
• countering any new intelligence technologies the Soviets might develop.^[33]

In 1999, the CIA created the venture capital firm In-Q-Tel to help fund and develop technologies of interest to the agency.^[34] It has long been the IC practice to contract for major development, such as reconnaissance aircraft and satellites.

Directorate of Support

The Directorate of Support has many traditional organizational administrative functions, such as personnel, security, communications, and financial operations, but in a manner consistent with the needs of highly sensitive operations. Significant units include

• The Office of Security
• The Office of Communications
• The Office of Information Technology

Training

The Office of Training begins with the Junior Officer Training program for new employees, but it also conducts courses in a wide range of specialized professional disciplines. So that the initial course might be taken by employees who had not received final security clearance and thus were not permitted unescorted access to the Headquarters building, a good deal of basic training has been given at office buildings in the urban areas of Arlington, Virginia.^{[citation needed]}

For a later stage of training of student operations officers, there is at least one classified training area at Camp Peary, near Williamsburg, Virginia. Students are selected, and their progress evaluated, in ways derived from the OSS, published as the book Assessment of Men, Selection of Personnel for the Office of Strategic Services.^[35]

Relationship with other sources of intelligence

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The CIA acts as the primary American HUMINT, HUMan INTelligence, and general analytic agency, under the Director of National Intelligence, who directs or coordinates the 16 member organizations of the United States Intelligence Community. In addition, it obtains information from other US government intelligence agencies, commercial information sources, and foreign intelligence services.

Other US intelligence agencies

A number of intelligence organizations are fully or partially under the budgetary control of the United States Secretary of Defense or other cabinet officers such as the United States Attorney General.

As do other analytic members of the US intelligence community, such as the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the analytic division of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), CIA's raw input includes imagery intelligence (IMINT) collected by the air and space systems of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), processed by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), signals intelligence (SIGINT) of the National Security Agency (NSA), and measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) from the DIA MASINT center.

Open Source Intelligence

Until the 2004 reorganization of the intelligence community, one of the "services of common concern" that CIA provided was Open Source Intelligence from the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS).^[36] FBIS, which had absorbed the Joint Publication Research Service, a military organization that translated documents,^[37] which moved into the National Open Source Enterprise under the Director of National Intelligence.

CIA still provides a variety of unclassified maps and reference documents both to the intelligence community and the public.^[38]

As part of its mandate to gather intelligence, CIA is looking increasingly online for information, and has become a major consumer of social media. "We're looking at YouTube, which carries some unique and honest-to-goodness intelligence," said Doug Naquin, director of the DNI Open Source Center (OSC) at CIA. "We're looking at chat rooms and things that didn't exist five years ago, and trying to stay ahead."^[39]

Outsourcing

Many of the duties and functions of Intelligence Community activities, not the CIA alone, are being outsourced and privatized. Mike McConnell, former Director of National Intelligence, was about to publicize an investigation report of outsourcing by US intelligence agencies, as required by Congress.^[40] However, this report was then classified.^[41][42] Hillhouse speculates that this report includes requirements for the CIA to report:^[41][43]

• different standards for government employees and contractors;
• contractors providing similar services to government workers;
• analysis of costs of contractors vs. employees;
• an assessment of the appropriateness of outsourced activities;
• an estimate of the number of contracts and contractors;
• comparison of compensation for contractors and government employees,
• attrition analysis of government employees;
• descriptions of positions to be converted back to the employee model;
• an evaluation of accountability mechanisms;
• an evaluation of procedures for "conducting oversight of contractors to ensure identification and prosecution of criminal violations, financial waste, fraud, or other abuses committed by contractors or contract personnel"; and
• an "identification of best practices of accountability mechanisms within service contracts."

According to investigative journalist Tim Shorrock:

...what we have today with the intelligence business is something far more systemic: senior officials leaving their national security and counterterrorism jobs for positions where they are basically doing the same jobs they once held at the CIA, the NSA and other agencies — but for double or triple the salary, and for profit. It's a privatization of the highest order, in which our collective memory and experience in intelligence — our crown jewels of spying, so to speak — are owned by corporate America. Yet, there is essentially no government oversight of this private sector at the heart of our intelligence empire. And the lines between public and private have become so blurred as to be nonexistent.^[44][45]

Congress has required an outsourcing report by March 30, 2008.^[43]

The Director of National Intelligence has been granted the authority to increase the number of positions (FTEs) on elements in the Intelligence Community by up to 10% should there be a determination that activities performed by a contractor should be done by a US government employee."^[43]

Part of the contracting problem comes from Congressional restrictions on the number of employees in the IC. According to Hillhouse, this resulted in 70% of the de facto workforce of the CIA's National Clandestine Service being made up of contractors. "After years of contributing to the increasing reliance upon contractors, Congress is now providing a framework for the conversion of contractors into federal government employees--more or less."^[43]

As with most government agencies, building equipment often is contracted. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), responsible for the development and operation of airborne and spaceborne sensors, long was a joint operation of the CIA and the United States Department of Defense. NRO had been significantly involved in the design of such sensors, but the NRO, then under DCI authority, contracted more of the design that had been their tradition, and to a contractor without extensive reconnaissance experience, Boeing. The next-generation satellite Future Imagery Architecture project, which missed objectives after $4 billion in cost overruns, was the result of this contract.^[46][47]

Some of the cost problems associated with intelligence come from one agency, or even a group within an agency, not accepting the compartmented security practices for individual projects, requiring expensive duplication.^[48]

Foreign intelligence services

Many intelligence services cooperate. There may even be a deniable communications channel with ostensibly hostile nations.

The role and functions of the CIA are roughly equivalent to those of the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki) (SVR), the French foreign intelligence service Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE) and Israel's Mossad. While the preceding agencies both collect and analyze information, some like the US State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research are purely analytical agencies. See List of intelligence agencies.

The closest links of the US IC to other foreign intelligence agencies are to Anglophone countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. There is a special communications marking that signals that intelligence-related messages can be shared with these four countries.^[49] An indication of the United States' close operational cooperation is the creation of a new message distribution label within the main US military communications network. Previously, the marking of NOFORN (i.e., No Foreign Nationals) required the originator to specify which, if any, non-US countries could receive the information. A new handling caveat, USA/AUS/CAN/GBR/NZL Eyes Only, used primarily on intelligence messages, gives an easier way to indicate that the material can be shared with Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and New Zealand.

Organizational history

The Central Intelligence Agency was created by Congress with the passage of the National Security Act of 1947, signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. It is the descendant of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) of World War II, which was dissolved in October 1945 and its functions transferred to the State and War Departments. Eleven months earlier, in 1944, William J. Donovan, the OSS's creator, proposed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create a new organization directly supervised by the President: "which will procure intelligence both by overt and covert methods and will at the same time provide intelligence guidance, determine national intelligence objectives, and correlate the intelligence material collected by all government agencies."^[50] Under his plan, a powerful, centralized civilian agency would have coordinated all the intelligence services. He also proposed that this agency have authority to conduct "subversive operations abroad," but "no police or law enforcement functions, either at home or abroad."^{[51][dead link]}

The lives of 83 fallen CIA officers are represented by 83 stars on the CIA Memorial Wall in the Original Headquarters building.

CIA personnel have died on duty, some in accidents and some by deliberate hostile action. On the memorial wall at CIA headquarters, some of the stars have no name attached, because it would reveal the identity of a clandestine officer.^[52] Both the OSS and its British counterparts, as do other agencies worldwide, struggle with finding the right organizational balance among clandestine intelligence collection, counterintelligence, and covert action.^{[citation needed]}

Immediate predecessors, 1946–47

The Office of Strategic Services, which was the first independent US intelligence agency, created for World War II, was broken up shortly after the end of the war, by President Harry S. Truman, on September 20, 1945 when he signed an Executive Order which made the breakup 'official' as of October 1, 1945. The rapid reorganizations that followed reflected the routine sort of bureaucratic competition for resources, but also trying to deal with the proper relationships of clandestine intelligence collection and covert action (i.e., paramilitary and psychological operations).^{[citation needed]} In October 1945, the functions of the OSS were split between the Departments of State and War:

This division lasted only a few months. Despite opposition from the military establishment, the United States Department of State and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),^[50] President Truman established the Central Intelligence Group (CIG) in January 1946 which was the direct predecessor to the CIA.^{[53][dead link]} The CIG was an interim authority established under Presidential authority. The assets of the SSU, which now constituted a streamlined "nucleus" of clandestine intelligence was transferred to the CIG in mid-1946 and reconstituted as the Office of Special Operations (OSO).

Early CIA, 1947–1952

In September 1947, the National Security Act of 1947 established both the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency.^[54] Rear Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter was appointed as the first Director of Central Intelligence.

The 16-foot (5 m) diameter CIA seal in the lobby of the Original Headquarters Building.

The National Security Council Directive on Office of Special Projects, June 18, 1948 (NSC 10/2) further gave the CIA the authority to carry out covert operations "against hostile foreign states or groups or in support of friendly foreign states or groups but which are so planned and conducted that any US Government responsibility for them is not evident to unauthorized persons."^[55]

In 1949, the Central Intelligence Agency Act (Public law 81-110) authorized the agency to use confidential fiscal and administrative procedures, and exempting it from most of the usual limitations on the use of Federal funds. It also exempted the CIA from having to disclose its "organization, functions, officials, titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed." It also created the program "PL-110", to handle defectors and other "essential aliens" who fall outside normal immigration procedures, as well as giving those persons cover stories and economic support.^[56]

The structure stabilizes, 1952

Then-DCI Walter Bedell Smith, who enjoyed a special degree of Presidential trust, having been Dwight D. Eisenhower's primary Chief of Staff during World War II, insisted that the CIA – or at least only one department – had to direct the OPC and OSO.^{[citation needed]} Those organization, as well as some minor functions, formed the euphemistically named Directorate of Plans in 1952.

Also in 1952, United States Army Special Forces were created, with some missions overlapping those of the Department of Plans. In general, the pattern emerged that the CIA could borrow resources from Special Forces, although it had its own special operators.^{[citation needed]}

Early Cold War, 1953–1966

Lockheed U-2 "Dragon Lady", the first generation of near-space reconnaissance aircraft.

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Allen Dulles, who had been a key OSS operations officer in Switzerland during World War II, took over from Smith, at a time where US policy was dominated by intense anticommunism. Various sources existed, the most visible being the investigations and abuses of Senator Joseph McCarthy, and the more quiet but systematic containment doctrine developed by George Kennan, the Berlin Blockade and the Korean War. Dulles enjoyed a high degree of flexibility, as his brother, John Foster Dulles, was simultaneously Secretary of State. Concern regarding the Soviet Union and the difficulty of getting information from its closed society, which few agents could penetrate, led to solutions based on advanced technology. Among the first success was with the Lockheed U-2 aircraft, which could take pictures and collect electronic signals from an altitude above Soviet air defenses' reach. After Gary Powers was shot down by an SA-2 surface to air missile in 1960, causing an international incident, the SR-71 was developed to take over this role.

The USAF's SR-71 Blackbird was developed from the CIA's A-12 OXCART.

During this period, there were numerous covert actions against resource nationalism and socialism. The CIA overthrew a democratically-elected government for the first time during Operation Ajax, after Iran moved to take control of its petroleum reserves. Some of the largest operations were aimed at Cuba after the overthrow of the Batista dictatorship, including assassination attempts against Fidel Castro and the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. There have been suggestions that the Soviet attempt to put missiles into Cuba came, indirectly, when they realized how badly they had been compromised by a US-UK defector in place, Oleg Penkovsky.^[57]

The CIA, working with the military, formed the joint National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to operate reconnaissance aircraft such as the SR-71 and later satellites. "The fact of" the United States operating reconnaissance satellites, like "the fact of" the existence of NRO, was highly classified for many years.

Early CORONA/KH-4B imagery IMINT satellite.

Indochina and the Vietnam War (1954–1975)

See also: Vietnam War and Phoenix Program

The OSS Patti mission arrived in Vietnam near the end of World War II, and had significant interaction with the leaders of many Vietnamese factions, including Ho Chi Minh.^[58] While the Patti mission forwarded Ho's proposals for phased independence, with the French or even the United States as the transition partner, the US policy of containment opposed forming any government that was communist in nature.^{[citation needed]}

The first CIA mission to Indochina, under the code name Saigon Military Mission arrived in 1954, under Edward Lansdale. US-based analysts were simultaneously trying to project the evolution of political power, both if the scheduled referendum chose merger of the North and South, or if the South, the US client, stayed independent.^{[citation needed]} Initially, the US focus in Southeast Asia was on Laos, not Vietnam.^{[citation needed]}

During the period of US combat involvement in the Vietnam War, there was considerable argument about progress among the Department of Defense under Robert McNamara, the CIA, and, to some extent, the intelligence staff of Military Assistance Command Vietnam.^[59] In general, the military was consistently more optimistic than the CIA. Sam Adams, a junior CIA analyst with responsibilities for estimating the actual damage to the enemy, eventually resigned from the CIA, after expressing concern to Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms with estimates that were changed for interagency and White House political reasons.^{[citation needed]} Adams afterward wrote the book War of Numbers.

Abuses of CIA authority, 1970s–1990s

Things came to a head in the mid-1970s, around the time of Watergate.^{[citation needed]} A dominant feature of political life during that period were the attempts of Congress to assert oversight of US Presidency, the executive branch of the US Government. Revelations about past CIA activities, such as assassinations and attempted assassinations of foreign leaders (most notably Fidel Castro) and illegal domestic spying on US citizens , provided the opportunities to execute Congressional oversight of US intelligence operations.^[60]

Hastening the CIA's fall from grace were the burglary of the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic Party by ex-CIA agents, and President Richard Nixon's subsequent use of the CIA to impede the FBI's investigation of the burglary.^{[citation needed]} In the famous "smoking gun" recording that led to President Nixon's resignation, Nixon ordered his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, to tell the CIA that further investigation of Watergate would "open the whole can of worms" about the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba.^[61] In this way Nixon and Haldemann ensured that the CIA's #1 and #2 ranking officials, Richard Helms and Vernon Walters, communicated to FBI Director L. Patrick Gray that the FBI should not follow the money trail from the burglars to the Committee to Re-elect the President, as it would uncover CIA informants in Mexico.^{[citation needed]} The FBI initially agreed to this due to a long standing agreement between the FBI and CIA not to uncover each other's sources of information. Though within a couple of weeks the FBI demanded this request in writing, and when no such formal request came, the FBI resumed its investigation into the money trail. Nonetheless, when the smoking gun tapes were made public, damage to the public's perception of CIA's top officials, and thus to the CIA as a whole, could not be avoided.^[62]

In 1973, then-DCI James R. Schlesinger commissioned reports – known as the "Family Jewels" – on illegal activities by the Agency. In December 1974, Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh broke the news of the "Family Jewels" in a front-page article in The New York Times, revealing that the CIA had assassinated foreign leaders, and had illegally conducted surveillance on some 7,000 US citizens involved in the antiwar movement (Operation CHAOS).^[60] The CIA had also experimented on people, who unknowingly took LSD (among other things).^[60]

Congress responded to the disturbing charges in 1975, investigating the CIA in the Senate via the Church Committee, chaired by Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho), and in the House of Representatives via the Pike Committee, chaired by Congressman Otis Pike (D-NY).^[60] In addition, President Gerald Ford created the Rockefeller Commission,^[60] and issued an executive order prohibiting the assassination of foreign leaders. As the CIA fell out of favor with the public, Ford assured Americans that his administration was not involved: "There are no people presently employed in the White House who have a relationship with the CIA of which I am personally unaware."^[60]

Repercussions from the Iran-Contra affair arms smuggling scandal included the creation of the Intelligence Authorization Act in 1991.^{[citation needed]} It defined covert operations as secret missions in geopolitical areas where the US is neither openly nor apparently engaged. This also required an authorizing chain of command, including an official, presidential finding report and the informing of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, which, in emergencies, requires only "timely notification".

2004, DNI takes over CIA top-level functions

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 created the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), who took over some of the government and intelligence community (IC)-wide functions that had previously been the CIA's. The DNI manages the United States Intelligence Community and in so doing it manages the intelligence cycle. Among the functions that moved to the DNI were the preparation of estimates reflecting the consolidated opinion of the 16 IC agencies, and preparation of briefings for the president. On July 30, 2008, President Bush issued Executive Order 13470^[63] amending Executive Order 12333 to strengthen the role of the DNI.^[64]

Previously, the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) oversaw the Intelligence Community, serving as the president's principal intelligence advisor, additionally serving as head of the CIA. The DCI's title now is "Director of the Central Intelligence Agency" (DCIA), serving as head of the CIA.

Currently, the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence. Prior to the establishment of the DNI, the CIA reported to the President, with informational briefings to congressional committees. The National Security Advisor is a permanent member of the National Security Council, responsible for briefing the President with pertinent information collected by all US intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration, etc. All 16 Intelligence Community agencies are under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence.

Mission-related issues and controversies

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The history of CIA deals with several things, certainly including covert action, but also clandestine and overt intelligence collection, intelligence analysis and reporting, and logistical and technical support of its activities. Prior to the December 2004 reorganization of the intelligence community (IC), it also was responsible for coordinations of IC-wide intelligence estimates.

These articles are organized in two different ways: By geographical region (for state actors or non-state actors limited to a country or region) and by transnational topic (for non-state actors).

CIA operations by region, country and date are discussed in detail in the following articles:

• CIA activities in Africa
• CIA activities in Asia and the Pacific
• CIA activities in Russia and Europe
• CIA activities in the Americas
• CIA activities in the Near East, North Africa, South and Southwest Asia

CIA analyses of issues such as the effect of emerging infectious diseases, and the detection of Weapons of mass destruction, are inherently transnational, and are discussed in the following articles. CIA operations and, where appropriate, authorizations for covert operations (for example, NSDD 138 authorizing direct action against opponents) by transnational topic are discussed in the following Wikipedia articles:

• CIA transnational activities in counterproliferation
• CIA transnational anti-crime and anti-drug activities
• CIA transnational anti-terrorism activities
• CIA transnational health and economic activities
• CIA transnational human rights actions

In addition, a view of covert US activity specifically oriented towards regime change actions is given in the following Wikipedia article:

• CIA sponsored regime change

Major sources for this section include the Council on Foreign Relations of the United States series, the National Security Archive and George Washington University, the Freedom of Information Act Reading Room at the CIA, US Congressional hearings, Blum's book^[65] and Weiner's book^[66] Note that the CIA has posted a rebuttal to Weiner's book,^[67] and that Jeffrey Richelson of the National Security Archive has also been sharply critical of it.^[68]

Areas of controversy about inappropriate, often illegal actions include experiments, without consent, on human beings to explore chemical means of eliciting information or disabling people. Another area involved torture and clandestine imprisonment. There have been attempted assassinations under CIA orders and support for assassinations of foreign leaders by citizens of the leader's country, and, in a somewhat different legal category that may fall under the customary laws of war, assassinations of militant leaders.

Security and counterintelligence failures

While the names change periodically, there are two basic security functions to protect the CIA and its operations. There is an Office of Security in the Directorate for Support, which is responsible for physical security of the CIA buildings, secure storage of information, and personnel security clearances. These are directed inwardly to the agency itself.

In what is now the National Clandestine Service, there is a counter-intelligence function, called the Counterintelligence Staff under its most controversial chief, James Jesus Angleton. This function has roles including looking for staff members that are providing information to foreign intelligence services (FIS) as moles. Another role is to check proposals for recruiting foreign HUMINT assets, to see if these people have any known ties to FIS and thus may be attempts to penetrate CIA to learn its personnel and practices, or as a provocateur, or other form of double agent.

This agency component may also launch offensive counterespionage, where it attempts to interfere with FIS operations. CIA officers in the field often have assignments in offensive counterespionage as well as clandestine intelligence collection.

Security failures

In 1993, the headquarters of the CIA was attacked by Mir Aimal Kansi, a Pakistani national. Two CIA employees were killed, Frank Darling and Lansing Bennett, M.D.

The "Family Jewels" and other documents reveal that the Office of Security violated the prohibition of CIA involvement in domestic law enforcement, sometimes with the intention of assisting police organizations local to CIA buildings.

Counterintelligence failures

Perhaps the most disruptive period involving counterintelligence was James Jesus Angleton's search for a mole,^[69] based on the statements of a Soviet defector, Anatoliy Golitsyn. A second defector, Yuri Nosenko, challenged Golitsyn's claims, with the two calling one another Soviet double agents.^[70] Many CIA officers fell under career-ending suspicion; the details of the relative truths and untruths from Nosenko and Golitsyn may never be released, or, in fact, may not be fully understood. The accusations also crossed the Atlantic to the British intelligence services, who also were damaged by molehunts.^[71]

On February 24, 1994, the agency was rocked by the arrest of 31-year veteran case officer Aldrich Ames on charges of spying for the Soviet Union since 1985.^[72]

Other defectors have included Edward Lee Howard, a field operations officer, and William Kampiles, a low-level worker in the CIA 24-hour Operations Center. Kampiles sold the Soviets the detailed operational manual for the KH-11 reconnaissance satellite.^[73]

Failures in intelligence analysis

The agency has also been criticized for ineffectiveness as an intelligence gathering agency. Former DCI Richard Helms commented, after the end of the Cold War, "The only remaining superpower doesn't have enough interest in what's going on in the world to organize and run an espionage service."^[74] The CIA has come under particular criticism for failing to predict the collapse of the Soviet Union.

See the information technology section of the intelligence analysis management for discussion of possible failures to provide adequate automation support to analysts, and A-Space for a IC-wide program to collect some of them. Cognitive traps for intelligence analysis also goes into areas where CIA has examined why analysis can fail.

Agency veterans^[who?] have lamented CIA's inability to produce the kind of long-range strategic intelligence that it once did in order to guide policymakers. John McLaughlin, who was deputy director and acting director of central intelligence from October 2000 to September 2004, said that CIA is drowned by demands from the White House and Pentagon for instant information, "intelligence analysts end up being the Wikipedia of Washington."^[75] In the intelligence analysis article, orienting oneself to the consumers deals with some of ways in which intelligence can become more responsive to the needs of policymakers.

For the media, the failures are most newsworthy. A number of declassified National Intelligence Estimates do predict the behavior of various countries, but not in a manner attractive to news, or, most significantly, not public at the time of the event. In its operational role, some successes for the CIA include the U-2 and SR-71 programs, and anti-Soviet operations in Afghanistan in the mid-1980s^{[citation needed]}.

Among the first analytic failures, before the CIA had its own collection capabilities, it assured President Harry S Truman on October 13, 1950 that the Chinese would not send troops to Korea. Six days later, over one million Chinese troops arrived.^[76] See an analysis of the failure; also see surrounding text for the two Koreas and China, and the time period before the Korean War. Earlier, the intelligence community failed to detect the North Korean invasion, in part because resources were not allocated to SIGINT coverage of the Korean peninsula^{[citation needed]}.

The history of US intelligence, with respect to French Indochina and then the two Vietnams, is long and complex. The Pentagon Papers often contain pessimistic CIA analyses that conflicted with White House positions. It does appear that some estimates were changed to reflect Pentagon and White House views..^[59] See CIA activities in Asia and the Pacific for detailed discussions of intelligence and covert operations from 1945 (i.e., before the CIA) onwards.

Another criticism is the failure to predict India's nuclear tests in 1974. A review of the various analyses of India's nuclear program did predict some aspects of the test, such as a 1965 report saying, correctly, that if India did develop a bomb, it would be explained as "for peaceful purposes".

A major criticism is failure to forestall the September 11 attacks. The 9/11 Commission Report identifies failures in the IC as a whole. One problem, for example, was the FBI failing to "connect the dots" by sharing information among its decentralized field offices. The report, however, criticizes both CIA analysis, and impeding their investigation^{[citation needed]}.

The executive summary of a report which was released by the office of CIA Inspector General John Helgerson on August 21, 2007 concluded that former DCI George Tenet failed to adequately prepare the agency to deal with the danger posed by Al-Qaeda prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001. The report had been completed in June, 2005 and was partially released to the public in an agreement with Congress, over the objections of current DCI General Michael Hayden. Hayden said its publication would "consume time and attention revisiting ground that is already well plowed.”^[77] Tenet disagreed with the report's conclusions, citing his planning efforts vis-a-vis al-Qaeda, particularly from 1999.^[78]

Questionable/controversial tactics

The CIA has been called into question on several occasions for some of the tactics it employs to carry out its missions. At times these tactics have included torture, training of groups and organizations that would later participate in killing of civilians and other non-combatants, human experimentation, and targeted killings and assassinations.

In understanding the CIA's role in human rights, there are challenging problems of ethics. John Stockwell, a CIA officer who left the Agency and became a public critic, said of the CIA field officers: "They don't meet the death squads on the streets where they're actually chopping up people or laying them down on the street and running trucks over their heads. The CIA people in San Salvador meet the police chiefs, and the people who run the death squads, and they do liaise with them, they meet them beside the swimming pool of the villas. And it's a sophisticated, civilized kind of relationship. And they talk about their children, who are going to school at UCLA or Harvard and other schools, and they don't talk about the horrors of what's being done. They pretend like it isn't true".^[79]

External investigations and document releases

At various times since the creation of the CIA, the US Government has produced comprehensive reports on CIA actions that marked historical watersheds in how CIA went about trying to fulfill its vague charter purposes from 1947. These reports were the result of internal/presidential studies, external investigations by Congressional committees or other arms of the US Government, or even the simple releases and declassification of large quantities of documents by the CIA.

Several investigations (e.g., the Church Committee, Rockefeller Commission, Pike Committee, etc.), as well as released declassified documents, reveal that the CIA, at times, operated outside its charter. In some cases, such as during Watergate, this may have been due to inappropriate requests by White House staff. In other cases, there was a violation of Congressional intent, such as the Iran-Contra affair. In many cases, these reports provide the only official discussion of these actions available to the public.

Influencing public opinion and law enforcement

This is an area with many shades of gray. There is little argument, for example, that the CIA acted inappropriately in providing technical support to White House operatives conducting both political and security investigations, with no legal authority to do so. Things become much more ambiguous when law enforcement may expose a clandestine operation, a problem not unique to intelligence but also seen among different law enforcement organizations, where one wants to prosecute and another to continue investigations, perhaps reaching higher levels in a conspiracy.^[80]

Involvements with former Nazi and Japanese war criminals

While the United States was involved in the prosecution of war criminals, US military and intelligence agencies protected some war criminals in the interest of obtaining technical or intelligence information from them, or taking part in ongoing intelligence or engineering (e.g., Operation Paperclip). Multiple US intelligence organizations were involved, and many of these relationships were formed before the creation of the CIA in 1947, but the CIA, in some cases, took over the relationships and concealed them for nearly 60 years.^{[citation needed]}

Al-Qaeda and the War on Terror

The CIA had long been dealing with terrorism originating from abroad, and in 1986 had set up a Counterterrorist Center to deal specifically with the problem. At first confronted with secular terrorism, the Agency found Islamist terrorism looming increasingly large on its scope.

The network that became known as al-Qaeda (The Base) grew out of Arab volunteers who fought the Soviets and their puppet regimes in Afghanistan in the 1980s. In 1984 Abdullah Azzam and Osama bin Laden set up an organization known as the Office of Services in Peshawar, Pakistan, to coordinate and finance the "Afghan Arabs", as the volunteers became known.

The CIA also channeled US aid to Afghan resistance fighters via Pakistan in a covert operation known as Operation Cyclone. It denied dealing with non-Afghan fighters, or having direct contact with bin Laden.^[81] However, various authorities relate that the Agency brought both Afghans and Arabs to the United States for military training.^[82][83][84] Azzam and Bin Laden set up recruitment offices in the US, under the name "Al-Khifah", the hub of which was the Farouq Mosque in Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue. This was "a place of pivotal importance for Operation Cyclone".^[85]

Among notable figures at the Brooklyn center was the Egyptian "double agent" Ali Mohamed, who worked for the CIA, the Green Berets, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda at various times in the 1980s and 1990s. FBI special agent Jack Cloonan called him "bin Laden's first trainer".^[86] Another was "Blind Sheikh" Abdel Rahman, a leading recruiter of mujaheddin, who obtained US entry visas with the help of the CIA in 1987 and 1990.

Around 1988, Bin Laden set up al-Qaeda from the more extreme elements of the Services Office. But it was not a large organization. When Jamal al-Fadl (who had been recruited through the Brooklyn center in the mid 1980s) joined in 1989, he was described as Qaeda's "third member".^[87]

In January 1996 the CIA created an experimental "virtual station", the Bin Laden Issue Station, under the Counterterrorist Center, to track Bin Laden's developing activities. Al-Fadl, who defected to the CIA in spring 1996, began to provide the Station with a new image of the Qaeda leader: he was not only a terrorist financier, but a terrorist organizer too. FBI special agent Dan Coleman (who together with his partner Jack Cloonan had been "seconded" to the Bin Laden Station) called him Qaeda's "Rosetta Stone".^[88]

In 1999 CIA chief George Tenet launched a grand "Plan" to deal with al-Qaeda. The Counterterrorist Center, its new chief Cofer Black and the center's Bin Laden unit were the Plan's developers and executors. Once it was prepared Tenet assigned CIA intelligence chief Charles E. Allen to set up a "Qaeda cell" to oversee its tactical execution.^[89] In 2000 the CIA and USAF jointly ran a series of flights over Afghanistan with a small remote-controlled reconnaissance drone, the Predator; they obtained probable photos of Bin Laden. Cofer Black and others became advocates of arming the Predator with missiles to try to assassinate Bin Laden and other Qaeda leaders. After the Cabinet-level Principals Committee meeting on terrorism of September 4, 2001, the CIA resumed reconnaissance flights, the drones now being weapons-capable.

The CIA set up a Strategic Assessments Branch in 2001 to remedy the deficit of "big-picture" analysis of al-Qaeda, and apparently to develop targeting strategies. The branch was formally set up in July 2001, but it struggled to find personnel. The branch's head took up his job on September 10, 2001.^[90][91][92]

After 9/11, the CIA came under criticism for not having done enough to prevent the attacks. Tenet rejected the criticism, citing the Agency's planning efforts especially over the preceding two years. He also considered that the CIA's efforts had put the Agency in a position to respond rapidly and effectively to the attacks, both in the "Afghan sanctuary" and in "ninety-two countries around the world".^[93] The new strategy was called the "Worldwide Attack Matrix".

2003 War in Iraq

Whether or not the intelligence available, or presented by the Bush Administration justified the 2003 invasion of Iraq or allowed proper planning, especially for the occupation, is quite controversial. However, there were more than one CIA employee that asserted the sense that Bush administration officials placed undue pressure on CIA analysts to reach certain conclusions that would support their stated policy positions with regard to Iraq.^{[citation needed]}

CIA Special Activities Division paramilitary teams were the first teams in Iraq arriving in July 2002. Once on the ground they prepared the battle space for the subsequent arrival of US military forces. SAD teams then combined with US Army Special Forces (on a team called the Northern Iraq Liaison Element or NILE) ^[94]. This team organized the Kurdish Peshmerga for the subsequent US-led invasion. They combined to defeat Ansar al-Islam, an ally of Al-Qaeda. If this battle had not been as successful as it was, there would have been a considerable hostile force behind the US/Kurdish force in the subsequent assault on Saddam's Army. The US side was carried out by Paramilitary Operations Officers from SAD/SOG and the Army's 10th Special Forces Group.^[94][95][96]

SAD teams also conducted high risk special reconnaissance missions behind Iraqi lines to identify senior leadership targets. These missions led to the initial strikes against Saddam Hussein and his key generals. Although the initial strike against Hussein was unsuccessful in killing the dictator, it was successful in effectively ending his ability to command and control his forces. Other strikes against key generals were successful and significantly degraded the command's ability to react to and maneuver against the US-led invasion force.^[94][97]

NATO member Turkey refused to allow its territory to be used by the US Army's 4th Infantry Division for the invasion. As a result, the SAD, US Army Special Forces joint teams and the Kurdish Peshmerga were the entire northern force against Saddam's Army during the invasion. Their efforts kept the 1st and 5th Corps of the Iraqi Army in place to defend against the Kurds rather than their moving to contest the coalition force coming from the south. This combined US Special Operations and Kurdish force soundly defeated Saddam's Army, a major military success, similar to the victory over the Taliban in Afghanistan.^[94] Four members of the SAD/SOG team received CIA's rare Intelligence Star for their "heroic actions." ^[98]

Drug trafficking

Two offices of CIA Directorate of Intelligence have analytical responsibilities in this area. The Office of Transnational Issues^[99] applies unique functional expertise to assess existing and emerging threats to US national security and provides the most senior US policymakers, military planners, and law enforcement with analysis, warning, and crisis support.

CIA Crime and Narcotics Center^[100] researches information on international narcotics trafficking and organized crime for policymakers and the law enforcement community. Since CIA has no domestic police authority, it sends its analytic information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other law enforcement organizations, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury (OFAC).

Another part of CIA, the National Clandestine Service, collects human intelligence (HUMINT) in these areas.

Research by Dr. Alfred W. McCoy, Gary Webb, and others has pointed to CIA involvement in narcotics trafficking across the globe, although the CIA officially denies such allegations.^[101][102] During the Cold War, when numerous soldiers participated in transport of Southeast Asian heroin to the United States by the airline Air America^{[citation needed]}, the CIA's role in such traffic was reportedly rationalized as "recapture" of related profits to prevent possible enemy control of such assets. Gary Webb and other researchers have reported about similar operations during Reagan's Contra War against the democratically-elected government of Nicaragua, US involvement in Afghanistan during the Cold War, and current CIA involvement with Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency, which allegedly has links to the refining of Afghan heroin in Pakistan.^{[citation needed]}

Lying to Congress

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has stated that the CIA repeatedly misled the Congress since 2001 about waterboarding and other torture, though Pelosi admitted to being told about the programs.^[103][104] Six members of Congress have stated that Director of CIA Leon Panetta admitted that over a period of several years since 2001 the CIA regularly deceived Congress, including affirmatively lying to Congress. These lies to Congress are similar to CIA lies to Congress from earlier periods, according to the Congressmen.^[105]

Covert programs hidden from Congress

On July 10, 2009, House Intelligence subcommittee Chairwoman Representative Jan Schakowsky announced the termination of an unnamed CIA covert program described as "very serious" in nature which had been kept secret from Congress for eight years.^[106]

CIA Director Panetta had ordered an internal investigation to determine why Congress had not been informed about the covert program. Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Representative Silvestre Reyes announced that that he is considering an investigation into alleged CIA violations of the National Security Act, which requires with limited exception that Congress be informed of covert activities. Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee Chairwoman Schakowsky indicated that she would forward a request for congressional investigation to HPSCI Chairman Silvestre Reyes.

As mandated by Title 50 of the United States Code Chapter 15, Subchapter III, when it becomes necessary to limit access to covert operations findings that could affect vital interests of the US, as soon as possible the President must report at a minimum to the Gang of Eight.^[107] The House is expected to support the 2010 Intelligence Authorization Bill including a provision that would require the President to inform more than 40 members of Congress about covert operations. The Obama administration White House threatened to veto the final version of a bill that included such a provision.^[108][109] On July 16, 2008 the fiscal 2009 Intelligence Authorization Bill was approved by House majority containing stipulations that 75% of money sought for covert actions would be held until all members of the House Intelligence panel were briefed on sensitive covert actions. The Bush administration White House issued a statement indicating that if the bill contained that provision when it reached the President, senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.^[110]

The program was rumored vis-a-vis leaks made by anonymous government officials on July 23, to be an assassinations program,^[111][112], but this remains unconfirmed.

Allegations by Director Panetta indicate that details of a secret counterterrorism program were withheld from Congress under orders from former US Vice President Dick Cheney. This prompted Senator Feinstein and Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to insist that no one should go outside the law.^[113] "The agency hasn't discussed publicly the nature of the effort, which remains classified," said agency spokesman Paul Gimigliano.^[114]

Wall Street Journal reported, citing former intelligence officials familiar with the matter, that the program was an attempt to carry out a 2001 presidential authorization to capture or kill al Qaeda operatives.^[115]

Intelligence Committee investigation

On July 17, 2009, The House Intelligence Committee said it was launching a formal investigation into the secret program.^[116] Representative Silvestre Reyes announced the probe will look into "whether there was any past decision or direction to withhold information from the committee".

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, who called for the investigation, stated that the investigation was intended to address CIA failures to inform Congress fully or accurately about four issues: C.I.A. involvement in the downing of a missionary plane mistaken for a narcotics flight in Peru in 2001, and two "matters that remain classified", as well as the rumored-assassinations question. In addition, the inquiry is likely to look at the Bush administration’s program of eavesdropping without warrants and its detention and interrogation program^[118].

References

Further reading

• Marchetti, Victor; John D. Marks (1974). The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence. Knopf. ISBN 0394482395. 
• Johnson, Loch K. (1991). America's Secret Power: The CIA in a Democratic Society. Oxford University Press. 
• Andrew, Christopher (1996). For the President's Eyes Only. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-638071-9. 
• Baer, Robert (2003). Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude. Crown. ISBN 1-4000-5021-9. 
• McCoy, Alfred W. (1972). The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia. Harper Colophon. ISBN 06-090328-7. 
• McCoy, Alfred W. (2006): A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror, Owl Books, ISBN 0805082484
• Smith, Jr., W. Thomas (2003). Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency. Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-4667-0. 
• Bearden, Milton; James Risen (2003). The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown With the KGB. Random House. ISBN 0-679-46309-7. 
• Mahle, Melissa Boyle (2004). Denial and Deception: An Insider's View of the CIA from Iran-Contra to 9/11. Nation Books. ISBN 1-56025-649-4. 
• Prouty, L. Fletcher (Col. USAF, (Ret.)) (1973). The Secret Team: The CIA And Its Allies In Control Of The World. Ballantine Books, Inc.. ISBN 345-23776-5-195. 
• Sheymov, Victor (1993). Tower of Secrets. U.S. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1557507643. 
• Weiner, Tim (2007). Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. Doubleday. ISBN 0-38551-445-X. 
• Wallace, Robert; Melton, H. Keith; Schlesinger, Henry R. (2008). Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to al-Qaeda. Dutton. ISBN 0525949801
• Kessler, Ronald (2003). The CIA at War: Inside the Secret Campaign Against Terror. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312319320. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Central Intelligence Agency

Wikinews has related news: CIA

• CIA official site
• CIA official Freedom of Information Act (foia) site
• George Washington University National Security Archive
• Proposed and finalized federal regulations from the Central Intelligence Agency

Other links

• The World Factbook, published by the CIA.[1]
• Managing and Teaching New Analysts by Martin Petersen
• Central Intelligence Agency Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed
• Inside the Company: CIA Diary. Third World Traveler: Excerpt from a book by Philip Agee.
• Interview of a former CIA operative
• The Center for Intelligence and Security Studies trains new analysts in Intelligence Analysis
• David Wise: "The CIA, Licensed to Kill" – video report by Democracy Now!

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and Stability · OEF - Horn of Africa · OEF - Trans Sahara · Missile strikes in Pakistan Other Insurgency in the Maghreb · Iraq insurgency and operations · Insurgency in Saudi Arabia · War in North-West Pakistan · South Thailand insurgency · Lebanon War · War in Somalia · Lebanon-Fatah al-Islam conflict · Insurgency in the Philippines Terrorist attacks 2001–2002 Assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud · September 11 attacks · Bahawalpur church attack · Indian Parliament attack · Shoe bomb plot · Ghriba synagogue bombing · Karachi bus bomb · Jaunpur train crash · Karachi US Consulate bombing · Akshardham Temple attack · 1st Bali bombing · Zamboanga bombings · Kurnool train crash 2003–2004 Riyadh compound bombings · Casablanca bombings · 2003 Mumbai bombings · Jakarta Marriott Hotel bombing · Istanbul bombings · SuperFerry 14 bombing · Madrid train bombings · Khobar massacre · Beslan school hostage crisis · Jakarta Australian embassy bombing 2005–2006 1st London bombings · 2nd London bombings · Sharm el-Sheikh attacks · 2nd Bali bombing · 1st Delhi bombings · Amman bombings · 2006 Varanasi bombings · 2006 Mumbai train bombings · Transatlantic aircraft plot · Toronto terrorism plot 2007–2008 1st Algiers bombings · Fort Dix attack plot · Ankara bombing · London car bomb plot · Glasgow Airport attack · 2007 Yemen tourist attack · Hyderabad bombings · Qahtaniya bombings · Karachi bombing · Baghlan bombing · Philippine Congress bombing · 2nd Algiers bombings · Assassination of Benazir Bhutto · Jaipur bombings · Danish embassy · Indian embassy · United States consulate · Bangalore bombings-Ahmedabad · 2nd Delhi bombings · American embassy · Islamabad bombing · 3rd Delhi bombing · 2008 Assam bombings · 2008 Mumbai attacks 2009–current Attack on Sri Lankan cricket team · 2009 Yemen tourist attack · 2009 Lahore bombing · Pearl Continental hotel bombing · Jakarta bombings · Peshawar Peepal Mindi bombing  · Northwest Airlines Flight 253  · 2010 Lakki Marwat suicide bombing See also Abu Ghraib prison · Axis of evil · Bush Doctrine · CIA-run Black sites · Combatant Status Review Tribunal · Enhanced interrogation techniques · Extrajudicial prisoners of the US · Extraordinary rendition · Guantanamo Bay detention camp · Military Commissions Act · NSA electronic surveillance program · President's Surveillance Program · Protect America Act of 2007 · Unitary executive theory · Unlawful combatant · USA PATRIOT Act Terrorism · War

Additional info - part 2

ASEAN Declaration

ASEAN Declaration or Bangkok Declaration is the founding document of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It was signed in Bangkok on August 8, 1967 by the five ASEAN founding members - Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand as a display of solidarity against Communist expansion in Vietnam and communist insurgency within their own borders. It states the basic principles of ASEAN such as cooperation, amity and non-interference.^[1] The date is now celebrated as ASEAN Day.^[2]

Abdul Rahman Yasin

Abdul Rahman Yasin (Arabic: عبد الرحمن يس ‎) (born April 10, 1960) helped make the bombs used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing attack. Yasin is of Iraqi heritage and grew up in Baghdad. He has been characterized in the American media as "the only participant in the first attempt to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993 who was never caught."^[2]

Abdullah Azzam

Abdullah Yusuf Azzam (1941 As-ba'ah Al-Hartiyeh, British Mandate of Palestine – November 24, 1989, Peshawar, Pakistan) (Arabic عبدالله عزام) was a highly influential Palestinian Sunni Islamic scholar and theologian, and a central figure in preaching for defensive jihad by Muslims to help the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet invaders. He raised funds, recruited and organized the international Islamic volunteer effort of Afghan Arabs through the 1980s, and emphasised the political ascension of Islamism. He is also famous as a teacher and mentor of Osama bin Laden who persuaded bin Laden to come to Afghanistan and help the jihad,^[1] although the two differed as to where the next front in global jihad should be after the withdrawal of the Soviets from Afghanistan. ^[2][3] He was killed by a bomb blast on November 24, 1989.^[4]

Able Archer 83

Able Archer 83 was a ten-day NATO command post exercise starting on November 2, 1983 that spanned Western Europe, centred on SHAPE's Headquarters situated at Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons. Able Archer exercises simulated a period of conflict escalation, culminating in a coordinated nuclear release.^[1] The 1983 exercise incorporated a new, unique format of coded communication, radio silences, participation by heads of state, and a simulated DEFCON 1 nuclear alert.

Abortion in the United States

Abortion in the United States has been legal since the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision, but the effective availability of abortion varies strongly by state. Abortion is one of the most contested issues in U.S. society, law and politics.

Abu Sayyaf

Abu Sayyaf (Arabic: جماعة أبو سياف‎; Jamāʿah Abū Sayyāf, ASG; Tagalog: Grupong Abu Sayyaf) also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya is one of several military Islamist separatist groups based in and around the southern Philippines, in Bangsamoro (Jolo, Basilan and Mindanao) where for almost 30 years various Muslim groups have been engaged in an insurgency for an independent province in the country. The name of the group is derived from the Arabic ابو, abu ("father of") and sayyaf ("Swordsmith^[5]"). The group calls itself "Al-Harakat Al-Islamiyya" or the "Islamic Movement". The name Abu Sayyaf was derived from the kunya adopted by Abdurajak Janajalani when he named his oldest son Sayyaf, thereby becoming Abu Sayyaf or the father of Sayyaf. Abdurajak named his son after the Afghan mujahid commander Rasul Sayyaf who ran the training camp he attended in Afghanistan.

Active measures

Active Measures (Russian: Активные мероприятия) were a form of political warfare conducted by the Soviet security services (Cheka, OGPU, NKVD, KGB) to influence the course of world events, "in addition to collecting intelligence and producing politically correct assessment of it".^[1] Active measures ranged "from media manipulations to special actions involving various degree of violence". They were used both abroad and domestically. They included disinformation, propaganda, counterfeiting official documents, assassinations, and political repression, such as penetration of churches, and persecution of political dissidents.^[1]

Adolescent sexuality in the United States

Adolescent sexuality in the United States relates to the sexuality of American adolescents and its place in American society, both in terms of their feelings, behaviors and development and in terms of the response of the government, educators and interested groups.

Affluence in the United States

Affluence in the United States refers to an individual's or household's state of being in an economically favorable position in contrast to a given reference group.^[3] While there are no precise guidelines or thresholds for what may be considered affluent, the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of the Census does provide detailed statistical data on the economic state of America's population. Income, measured either by household or individual, is perhaps the most commonly used measure for whether or not a given entity may be considered affluent. The term's usage varies greatly depending on context and speaker. Both an upper middle class person with a personal income of $77,500 annually and a billionaire may be referred to as affluent. If the average American with a median income of roughly $32,000^[4] ($39,000 for those employed full-time between the ages of 25 and 64)^[5] was used as a reference group, the upper middle class person with a personal income in the tenth percentile of $77,500 may indeed be referred to as affluent.^[4] If compared to an executive of the Fortune 500, however, the upper middle class person would seem anything but affluent.^[6][7] Currently marketing corporations and investment houses classify those with household incomes exceeding $75,000 as mass affluent, while sociologist Leonard Beeghley identifies all those with a net worth of $1 million or more as "rich." The upper class is most commonly defined as the top 1% with household incomes commonly exceeding $250,000 annually. These two figures should be seen only as guidelines based upon the top 1% of a population because net worth exceeding 1 million may be increasingly inaccurate as an upper class indicator as the value of the dollar falls and inflation along with interest and the turn of the century's real estate boom causes more and more people to self-classify as millionaires.

Afghanistan

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in South-Central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia,^[5][6] South Asia,^[7][8] or the Middle East.^[9] It is bordered by Iran in the west, Pakistan in the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.

African-American Civil Rights Movement (1896–1954)

The Civil Rights Movement in the United States has been a long, primarily nonviolent struggle to bring full civil rights and equality under the law to all Americans. The movement has had a lasting impact on United States society, in its tactics, the increased social and legal acceptance of civil rights, and in its exposure of the prevalence and cost of racism.

African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968)

The African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) refers to the reform movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring Suffrage in Southern states. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1954 and 1968, particularly in the South. By 1966, the emergence of the Black Power Movement, which lasted roughly from 1966 to 1975, enlarged the aims of the Civil Rights Movement to include racial dignity, economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from oppression by whites.

Agencia Nacional de Inteligencia

The National Intelligence Agency ANI (Agencia Nacional de Inteligencia in Spanish) is the Chilean government agency. Created in 2004 and it mission is coordinate and advise the President on intelligence. Attached administratively to the Ministry of the Interior. Its current director is Gustavo Villalobos, who was also the last director of Directorate of Public Security and Information (Dirección de Seguridad Pública e Informaciones in Spanish). ANI's budget is approximately $4 million USD.^[1]

Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna

The Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (Italian for "External Information and Security Agency"), commonly known as AISE and formerly known as SISMI, is the external intelligence agency of Italy. Operating outside of Italy, the organisation protects Italy's regional interests mainly through the use of HUMINT.

Agriculture in the United States

Agriculture is a major industry in the United States and the country is a net exporter of food. As of the last census of agriculture in 2007, there were 2.2 million farms, covering an area of 922 million acres (373 million hectares), an average of 418 acres (170 hectares) per farm^[1].

Air America (airline)

Air America was an American passenger and cargo airline established in 1946 and covertly owned and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Special Activities Division from 1950 to 1976. It supplied and supported covert operations in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency

The AFISRA, headquartered at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, was activated June 8, 2007. ^[2] Formerly known as the Air Intelligence Agency, the Air Force ISR Agency reports to the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance as a field operating agency. The United States Department of Defense defines ISR as:

Akshardham Temple attack

The Akshardham Temple attack or Akshardham Temple siege occurred on September 25, 2002 when two heavily armed terrorists arrived at the Akshardham Monument in Gandhinagar, the capital of Western Gujarat state in India at around 1630 hrs local time. They scaled the perimeter fence and opened fire, killing a woman and a temple volunteer immediately. About 600 devotees were in the temple at the time. By the end of the attack, 29 devotees were killed and another 79 devotees wounded. Apart from the 25 people killed in the first assault, 1 state police officer and 1 commando also died in the action. One more seriously injured commando Surjan Singh Bhandari who died after nearly 2 years of being in a coma.

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda (pronounced /ælˈkaɪdə/ or /ælˈkeɪdə/; Arabic: القاعدة‎, al-qāʿidah, "the base"), alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida, is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988^[5] and late 1989/early 1990.^[6] It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless arm^[7] and a fundamentalist Sunni movement calling for global jihad.

Al Qaeda

Al-Qaeda (pronounced /ælˈkaɪdə/ or /ælˈkeɪdə/; Arabic: القاعدة‎, al-qāʿidah, "the base"), alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida, is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988^[5] and late 1989/early 1990.^[6] It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless arm^[7] and a fundamentalist Sunni movement calling for global jihad.

Aldrich Ames

Aldrich Hazen Ames (born May 26, 1941) is a former Central Intelligence Agency counter-intelligence officer and analyst, who, in 1994, was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and later Russia.

Alfred W. McCoy

Alfred W. McCoy (born June 8, 1945) is a historian and a Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He earned his B.A. from Columbia College^[1], and his Ph.D in Southeastern Asian history from Yale University.

Algemene Inlichtingen en Veiligheidsdienst

Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst (AIVD), formerly known as the BVD (Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst, Domestic Security Service) is the General Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands. The office is in Zoetermeer. Its predecessor was the 1945-1947 Bureau voor Nationale Veiligheid, Bureau of National Security [1].

Ali Mohamed

Ali Abdul Saoud Mohamed, (Ali Abdelsoud Mohammed) also known as Ali Mohammed (علي محمد) (born June 3, 1952) (sometimes called "al-Amriki", the American) is a militant who fits the profile of a double agent, according to Larry Johnson (former deputy chief of counter-terrorism at the US State Department).^[1] Mohamed worked for the CIA, and US special forces, at different times during the 1980s and 1990s. In the same period, he also co-operated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda. In the 1980s Mohamed trained anti-Soviet fighters en route to Afghanistan. FBI special agent Jack Cloonan called him "bin Laden's first trainer".^[2] Mohamed was charged with the August 7, 1998 bombings of the United States' embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In October 2000, he pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy to kill nationals of the United States and officers or employees of the U.S. government on account of their official duties, to murder and kidnap, and to destroy U.S. property.

Allen Welsh Dulles

Allen Welsh Dulles (April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was the first civilian and the longest serving (1953–61) director of central intelligence (de facto head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency) and a member of the Warren Commission. Between stints of government service, Dulles was a corporate lawyer and partner at Sullivan & Cromwell. Allen W. Dulles was one of the directors of the J. Henry Schroder bank.

American Dream

The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States of America in which democratic ideals are perceived as a promise of prosperity for its people. In the American Dream, first expressed by James Truslow Adams in 1931, citizens of every rank feel that they can achieve a "better, richer, and happier life."^[1] The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence^[2] which states that "all men are created equal"^[3] and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights"^[3] including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."^[3]

American Revolution

The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies among the possessions in North America of the Kingdom of Great Britain at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of America. During this period, the colonies first rejected the authority of the Parliament to govern them without representation, expelled all royal officials and set up thirteen Provincial Congresses or equivalent to form individual self-governing states. Through representatives sent to the Second Continental Congress, they originally joined together to defend their respective self-governance and manage the armed conflict against the British known as the American Revolutionary War (1775–83, also American War of Independence). The states ultimately determined collectively that the British monarchy, by acts of tyranny, could no longer legitimately claim their allegiance. They then united to form one nation, breaking away from the British Empire in July 1776 when the Congress issued the Declaration of Independence, rejecting the monarchy on behalf of the United States of America. The war ended with effective American victory in October 1781, followed by formal British abandonment of any claims to the United States with the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

American exceptionalism

American exceptionalism (def. "exceptionalism") refers to the theory that the United States occupies a special niche among the nations of the world^[1] in terms of its national credo, historical evolution, political and religious institutions and unique origins. The first description of the belief is attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville,^[2][3] who claimed that the then-50-year-old United States held a special place among nations, because it was a country of immigrants and the first modern democracy.

American middle class

The American middle class is an ambiguously defined social class in the United States.^[1][2] While the concept remains largely ambiguous in popular opinion and common language use,^[3][4] contemporary sociologists have put forward several, more or less congruent, theories on the American middle class. Depending on class model used, the middle class may constitute anywhere from 25% to 66% of households.

American philosophy

American philosophy is the philosophical activity or output of Americans, both within the United States and abroad. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that while American philosophy lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can nevertheless be seen as both reflecting and shaping collective American identity over the history of the nation."^[1]

Anatoliy Golitsyn

Anatoliy Mikhaylovich Golitsyn CBE (Russian: Анатолий Михайлович Голицын;born August 25, 1926) is a Soviet KGB defector and author of two books about long-term deception strategy of the KGB leadership. He was born in Piryatin, Ukrainian SSR. He provided "a wide range of intelligence to the CIA on the operations of most of the 'Lines' (departments) at the Helsinki and other residencies, as well as KGB methods of recruiting and running agents."^[1] He is an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and, as late as 1984, was an American citizen.^[2]

Angolan Civil War

The Angolan Civil War began in Angola after the end of the war for independence from Portugal in 1975. The war featured conflict between two primary Angolan factions, the Communist MPLA and the anti-Communist UNITA. Yet a third movement, the FLEC, an association of separatist militant groups, fought for the independence of Cabinda.

Anna Eshoo

Anna Georges Eshoo (born December 13, 1942) is a U.S. politician who has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993, representing California's 14th congressional district. The district, which includes part of Silicon Valley, includes the cities of Redwood City, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto. She is the only Member of Congress of Assyrian descent.

Ansar al-Islam

Ansar al-Islam (Kurdishئه‌نسه‌ر ئه‌ل إسلام), Supporters or Partisans of Islam) is a Kurdish Sunni Islamist group, promoting a radical interpretation of Islam, close to the official Saudi ideology of Wahhabism with strict application of Sharia. The group was formed in the Kurdish-controlled northern provinces of Iraq near the Iranian border, with bases initially in and near the villages of Biyara and Tawela, northeast of Halabja.

Anti-Americanism

Anti-Americanism, often anti-American sentiment, is opposition or hostility to the people or the government policies of the United States.^[1] In practice, a broad range of attitudes and actions critical of or opposed to the United States have been labeled anti-Americanism. Thus, the nature and applicability of the term is often disputed.^[2]

Anti-communism

Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the October Revolution brought Lenin to power in Russia in 1917. Intellectuals from many schools of thought began to oppose communism.

Appalachian Mountains

Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama

Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic (Spanish: República Argentina, pronounced [reˈpuβlika aɾxenˈtina]), is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth-largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico, Colombia and Spain are more populous.

Arms race

The term arms race, in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for real or apparent military supremacy. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation. Nowadays the term is commonly used to describe any competition where there is no absolute goal, only the relative goal of staying ahead of the other competitors.

Asian–African Conference

The first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference—also known as the Bandung Conference—was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on April 18-24, 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia. The conference was organized by Indonesia, Burma, Pakistan, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and India and was coordinated by Ruslan Abdulgani, secretary general of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The conference's stated aims were to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism or neocolonialism by the United States, the Soviet Union, or any other imperialistic nation. The conference was an important step toward the crystallization of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Associated Press

The Associated Press (AP) is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists. Many newspapers and broadcasters outside the United States are AP subscribers, paying a fee to use AP material without being contributing members of the cooperative.

Australia

Australia (pronounced /əˈstreɪljə/ ə-STRAYL-yə or /ɒˈstreɪljə/ o-STRAYL-yə,^[7] or more formally as /ɔːˈstreɪliə/ aw-STRAY-lee-ə), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent (the world's smallest),^[8][9] the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.^N4 Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia to the north-east, and New Zealand to the southeast.

Axis of evil

"Axis of evil" is a term initially used by the former United States President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002 and often repeated throughout the rest of his stay in office, in order to describe governments that he accused of helping terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. President Bush named Iran, Iraq and North Korea. President Bush's presidency was marked by this notion as a justification for the War on Terror.

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan (pronounced /ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn/ ( listen); Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), formally the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası), is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia,^[4] it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhichevan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest. The Nagorno-Karabakh region in the southwest of Azerbaijan proper declared itself independent from Azerbaijan in 1991, but it is not recognized by any nation and considered a legal part of Azerbaijan.

Baghdad Central Prison

The Baghdad Central Prison, formerly known^[1] as Abu Ghraib prison (Arabic: سجن أبو غريب‎ Sijn Abu Ghuraib; also Abu Ghurayb, meaning 'father of the raven' or 'Place of Ravens'^[2]) is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km (20 mi) west of Baghdad. It was built by British contractors in the 1950s.

Batasang Pambansa bombing

The Batasang Pambansa bombing occurred on the night of November 13, 2007, at the Batasang Pambansa (National Assembly) Complex in Quezon City, Philippines. The blast killed Congressman Wahab Akbar and Marcial Taldo, a staff member of Congresswoman Luzviminda Ilagan, and wounded Ilagan, Congressmen Pryde Henry Teves, and two others.^[1]

Belarus

Belarus /ˈbɛləruːs/ (help·info) (Belarusian: Беларусь or Biełaruś, Russian: Беларусь) is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe,^[3] bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno (Hrodna), Gomel (Homiel), Mahilyow (Mahiloŭ) and Vitebsk (Viciebsk). Forty percent of the country is forested,^[4] and its strongest economic sectors are agriculture and manufacturing.

Berlin Blockade

The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first such crisis that resulted in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under their control. Their aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet zone to start supplying Berlin with food and fuel, thereby giving the Soviets practical control over the entire city.

Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a concrete barrier built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) that completely enclosed the city of West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin. The Wall included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds" and other defenses.

Beslan school hostage crisis

Kaspiysk bombing – Moscow crisis – Znamenskoye bombing – Stavropol bombing – Red Square bombing – Moscow metro bombing – Aircraft bombings – Beslan crisis

Black September in Jordan

September 1970 is known as the Black September (Arabic: أيلول الأسود‎) in Arab history and sometimes is referred to as the "era of regrettable events." It was a month when Hashemite King Hussein of Jordan moved to quash the militancy of Palestinian organizations and restore his monarchy's rule over the country.^[3] The violence resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, the vast majority Palestinian.^[2] Armed conflict lasted until July 1971 with the expulsion of the PLO and thousands of Palestinian fighters to Lebanon.

Black site

In military terminology, a black site is a location at which a black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States (U.S.) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), generally outside of U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction. It can refer to the facilities that are controlled by the CIA used by the U.S. government in its "War on Terror" to detain alleged unlawful enemy combatants.^[1]

Boeing

The Boeing Company is a major aerospace and defense corporation, founded by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Its international headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois,^[3] since 2001. Boeing is the largest global aircraft manufacturer by revenue, orders and deliveries, and the second largest aerospace and defense contractor in the world.^[4] Boeing is the largest exporter by value in the United States.^[5] Its stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Brazil

Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil^[7] (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil) listen (help·info), is the largest country and the only Portuguese-speaking country in South America.^[8]

Brazilian Intelligence Agency

The Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Portuguese: Agência Brasileira de Inteligência; ABIN) is the successor organization to the Serviço Nacional de Informações (SNI) or National Information Service formed during the government of Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco in the mid-1960s.

Brezhnev Doctrine

The Brezhnev Doctrine was a Soviet Union foreign policy, first and most clearly outlined by S. Kovalev in a September 26, 1968 Pravda article, entitled “Sovereignty and the International Obligations of Socialist Countries.” Leonid Brezhnev reiterated it in a speech at the Fifth Congress of the Polish United Workers' Party on November 13, 1968, which stated:

Bricker Amendment

The Bricker Amendment is the collective name of a series of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution considered by the United States Senate in the 1950s. These amendments would have placed restrictions on the scope and ratification of treaties and executive agreements entered into by the United States and are named for their sponsor, Senator John W. Bricker of Ohio, a conservative Republican.

Bundesnachrichtendienst

The Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service, BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of the German government, under the control of the Chancellor's Office. Its headquarters are in Pullach near Munich, and Berlin (planned to be centralised in Berlin by 2011). The BND has 300 locations in Germany and foreign countries. In 2005, the BND employed around 6,050 people, 10% of them Bundeswehr soldiers; those are officially employed by the "Amt für Militärkunde" (Office for Military Sciences). The annual budget of the BND is classified, but it exceeds € 430,000,000.

Bureau of Intelligence and Research

The Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) is an intelligence bureau in the U.S. State Department tasked with analyzing information. Originally founded as the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services, it was transferred to the State Department at the end of World War II. The Bureau of Intelligence and Research is part of the United States Intelligence Community, of which there are 16 branches. The current number of employees and its budget is classified. The Bureau is headed by the Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research.

Bush Doctrine

The Bush Doctrine is a phrase used to describe various related foreign policy principles of former United States president George W. Bush. The phrase initially described the policy that the United States had the right to secure itself from countries that harbor or give aid to terrorist groups, which was used to justify the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.^[1]

CIA Memorial Wall

The Memorial Wall is a memorial at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It honors CIA employees who died in the line of service.^[1]

CIA Office of Congressional Affairs

There have been various arrangements to handle the CIA's relationship with the United States Congress. There is controversy between the two. The CIA admitted to misleading Congress on various occasions.It is being questioned whether or not Congress should investigate the CIA. It began with a single position named the 'legislative liaison' which later became the 'legislative counsel'. In the 60s an actual office was created for this purpose - the Office of Legislative Counsel. In the 1970s the congress began to investigate the CIA and staffing had to be greatly increased to deal with the demand for documents and information. In the 80s there were several reorganizations and renamings of the office. Near the end of the 1980s, the office was renamed the Office of Congressional Affairs and has kept that name, as of 2009. ^[1] "At issue is a secret program the CIA began planning shortly after the September 11 attacks but did not tell Congress about until June 24 of this year. The program never got beyond the planning and preparation stages." ^[2]

CIA activities in Africa

This article deals with activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Africa. Be advised this list may be incomplete due to the clandestine nature of the activities described.

CIA activities in Iraq

U.S. support was predicated upon the notion that Iraq was a key buffer state in geopolitical relations with the Soviet Union. A coup in 1963 ousted the Qassim government, which was believed to be leaning toward Communists. There are U.S. court records indicating the CIA militarily and monetarily assisted Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War.^[1] The CIA also was involved in the failed 1996 coup against Saddam Hussein.^[2][3]

CIA activities in the Americas

Drug issues, and CIA involvement in them, have often been raised about the Americas, as well as in other areas such as Southeast Asia. The consensus of several sources is that once proprietary airlines and other support had been set up for covert supply of irregular troops, even though drug transport may not have been approved, it was almost impossible to prevent using those same support resources. The regional concerns will be brought together in CIA transnational anti-crime and anti-drug activities(under construction)

CIA activities in the Near East, North Africa, South and Southwest Asia

This article deals with activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the areas that are commonly called the "Middle East", but more precisely cover North Africa, the Near/Middle East, and South and Southwest Asia.

CIA and the media

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), America's intelligence agency, has made use of media assets, both foreign and domestic, for its covert operations. It was first reported on in the late 1960s, when it became known that that the Congress for Cultural Freedom was largely funded by the CIA. In 1973, the Washington Star-News reported that CIA had enlisted more than thirty Americans working abroad as journalists, citing an internal CIA inquiry ordered by CIA director William E. Colby.^[1] The Church Committee was the first congressional committee established in the 1970s to look specifically into the CIA's past activities. Some classified information in the (unpublished) report of the Pike Committee was leaked to The Village Voice, which showed more details on the CIA's media manipulation. The Committee mentioned that the:

CIA drug trafficking

It has been alleged^[who?] that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is involved in drug smuggling, specifically in at least three significant episodes. Congress has investigated some allegations and found that CIA assets were involved in trafficking cocaine, though the question of whether or not they specifically aided is unlikely to be proved conclusive, due to an unwillingness to cooperate by the CIA. The issue of the CIA being involved with alleged malfeasance and corruption remains controversial.

CIA in fiction and the movies

Espionage and secret operations have long been a source of fiction, and the real and perceived United States Central Intelligence Agency is a source of many books, movies and video games. Some fiction may be historically based, or will refer to less action-oriented aspects, such as intelligence analysis (e.g., the main character of several of Tom Clancy's books is Jack Ryan, or counterintelligence (e.g., several works involving characters modeled after James Jesus Angleton).

CIA influence on public opinion

At various times, under its own authority or in accordance with directives from the President of the United States or the National Security Council staff, the Central Intelligence Agency has attempted to influence domestic and international public opinion, and sometimes law enforcement. This article does not address, other than incidental to influencing opinion or actions reasonably associated with CIA security, possibly illegal domestic surveillance.

CIA transnational activities in counterproliferation

This article deals with activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, specifically dealing with arms control, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and weapons proliferation. It attempts to look at the process of tasking and analyzing, rather than the problem itself, other than whether the CIA's efforts match its legal mandate or assists in treaty compliance. In some cases, the details of a country's programs are introduced because they present a problem in analysis. For example, if Country X's policymakers truly believe in certain history that may not actually be factual, an analyst trying to understand Country X's policymakers needs to be able to understand their approach to an issue.

CIA transnational anti-terrorism activities

This article deals with activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) related to terrorism. Especially after the CIA lost its coordinating role over the entire Intelligence Community (IC), it is impossible to understand US counterterrorism by looking at the CIA alone. Coordinating structures have been created by each president to fit his administrative style and the perceived level of threat.

CIA transnational health and economic activities

This article deals with activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency related to human survival issues, emphasizing disease and basic needs such as water and agriculture.

Cambodian–Vietnamese War

The Cambodian–Vietnamese War (Vietnamese: Chiến tranh biên giới Việt Nam–Campuchia) was a series of conflicts between the two countries, culminating in the establishment of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation and the subsequent invasion led by the Vietnam People's Army, which resulted in the removal of the Khmer Rouge regime from power and the establishment of the People's Republic of Kampuchea. Despite the ensuing occupation of Cambodia, this war ended the Cambodian genocide from 1975-1979 under the rule of Pol Pot.

Cambodian Civil War

The Cambodian Civil War was a conflict that pitted the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as the Khmer Rouge) and their allies the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF, or, derogatively, Viet Cong) against the government forces of Cambodia (after October 1970, the Khmer Republic), which were supported by the United States (U.S.) and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).

Camp Peary

Camp Peary is a military reservation in York County near Williamsburg, Virginia. Officially it is referred to as the Armed Forces Experimental Training Activity (AFETA) under the auspices of the Department of Defense, but it is widely believed to be the location of a covert CIA training facility known as "The Farm". It has a sister facility, "The Point", located in Hertford, North Carolina.

Canada

Canada (pronounced /ˈkænədə/) is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area^[7] and its common border with the United States to the south and northwest is the world's longest.

Canadian Security Intelligence Service

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) (French: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité) (SCRS) is the internal security agency of the Canadian government. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, within Canada and abroad.^[3]

Capital punishment in the United States

Capital punishment in the United States varies by jurisdiction and is applied rarely: in practice only for aggravated murder and even more rarely for felony murder or contract killing.^[1] The history of U.S. capital punishment begins in the colonies under the laws of their mother countries and was carried over into United States law and the law of most of the U.S. states and territories.

Carter Doctrine

The Carter Doctrine was a policy proclaimed by President of the United States Jimmy Carter in his State of the Union Address on January 23, 1980, which stated that the United States would use military force if necessary to defend its national interests in the Persian Gulf region. The doctrine was a response to the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, and was intended to deter the Soviet Union—the Cold War adversary of the United States—from seeking hegemony in the Persian Gulf. After stating that Soviet troops in Afghanistan posed "a grave threat to the free movement of Middle East oil," Carter proclaimed:

Castroism

Castroism (castrismo in Spanish) is a communist ideology, lined with and created by Fidel Castro. Castroism is influenced by many ideologies but particularly the theories of Cuban revolutionary José Martí, and after 1961, Karl Marx, Freidrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and according to some, fellow 26th of July Movement partner Che Guevara.^{[citation needed]} Castroism's main focus is the practice and theory behind revolution and revolutionary government in Cuba and promotes Cuban nationalism, Latin American solidarity, social justice and democracy.^{[citation needed]}

Center for Intelligence and Security Studies

The University of Mississippi's Center for Intelligence and Security Studies (or CISS), located on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Mississippi, was created in 2008 and is housed in the university's School of Applied Sciences. CISS's primary mission is to deliver academic programming to prepare outstanding students for careers in intelligence analysis in both the public and private sectors. In addition, CISS personnel engage in applied research and consortium building with government, private and academic partners.

Central American crisis

The Central American crisis refers to events in the late 1970s when major civil wars erupted in various countries in Central America resulting in the region becoming one of the world's foreign policy hot spots in the 1980s. In particular, the United States feared that victory by communist forces would threaten the Panama Canal and other US strategic interests^{[citation needed]}.

Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology

The Directorate of Science and Technology is the branch of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) charged with developing and applying technology to advance the United States intelligence gathering.^[1]

Charles E. Allen

Charles E. Allen (born 1936) is an American public servant, notable for his roles at the United States Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis and, before that, the Central Intelligence Agency.

Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile (Spanish: República de Chile Spanish pronunciation: [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈʧile]), is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. It is one of two countries in South America (with Ecuador) which do not border Brazil. The Pacific coastline of Chile is 6,435 kilometres.^[4] Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas and Easter Island. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica, although all claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty.

Christopher Andrew (historian)

Christopher Maurice Andrew (born 23 July 1941) is a historian at the University of Cambridge with a special interest in international relations and in particular the history of intelligence services.

Church Committee

The Church Committee is the common term referring to the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church (D-ID) in 1975. A precursor to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the committee investigated intelligence gathering for illegality by the CIA and FBI after certain activities had been revealed by the Watergate affair.

Civil liberties in the United States

Civil liberties of the United States are certain inalienable rights retained by (as opposed to privileges granted to) citizens of the United States under the Constitution of the United States, as interpreted and clarified by the Supreme Court of the United States and lower federal courts.^[1] Civil liberties can be simply defined as individual legal and constitutional protections against the government. The civil liberties that are spelled out in the Constitution are those such as, the freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, the right of regulated search and seizure, and so on. These amendments make up the Bill of Rights. There are also many liberties of people that are not stated in the Constitution, as stated in the 9th Amendment. Civil liberties organizations such as the ACLU lobby for the protection of civil liberties, particularly free speech.

Clandestine HUMINT

Clandestine HUMINT (HUMan INTelligence) includes a wide range of espionage sources. This includes the classic spy (called, by professionals, asset or agent) who collects intelligence, but also couriers and other personnel, that handle their secure communications. Other support personnel include access agents who may arrange the contact between the potential spy, and the case officer who recruits them. In some cases, the recruiter and the continuing supervision of the agent may be different people. Large espionage networks may be composed of multiple levels of spies, support personnel, and supervisors. Espionage networks are usually organized on a cell system, where each clandestine operator knows the people in his own cell, perhaps the external case officer, and an emergency method, not necessarily a person, to contact higher levels if the case officer or cell leader is captured.

Clandestine HUMINT and Covert Action

National governments deal in both intelligence and military special operations functions that either should be completely secret (i.e., clandestine: the existence of which is not known outside the relevant government circles), or simply cannot be linked to the sponsor (i.e., covert: it is known that sabotage is taking place, but its sponsor is unknown). It is a continuing and unsolved question for governments whether clandestine intelligence collection and covert action should be under the same agency. The arguments for doing so include having centralized functions for monitoring covert action and clandestine HUMINT and making sure they do not conflict, as well as avoiding duplication in common services such as cover identity support, counterespionage, and secret communications. The arguments against doing so suggest that the management of the two activities takes a quite different mindset and skills, in part because clandestine collection almost always is on a slower timeline than covert action.

Classified information

Classified information is sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular classes of persons. A formal security clearance is required to handle classified documents or access classified data. The clearance process requires a satisfactory background investigation. There are typically several levels of sensitivity, with differing clearance requirements. This sort of hierarchical system of secrecy is used by virtually every national government. The act of assigning the level of sensitivity to data is called data classification.

Cofer Black

Joseph Cofer Black (born 1950, in Stamford, CT) is an American official. He had a 28-year career in the Directorate of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency, culminating in his appointment as Director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) in June 1999.

Cognitive traps for intelligence analysis

Intelligence analysis is plagued by many of the cognitive traps also encountered in other disciplines. The first systematic consideration of the specific traps lying between an intelligence analyst and clear thinking was carried out by Dick Heuer. ^[1] According to Heuer, these traps may be rooted either in the analyst's organizational culture or the analyst's own personality.

Colonial history of the United States

The term colonial history of the United States refers to the history of the land from the start of European settlement to the time of independence from Europe, and especially to the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain which declared themselves independent in 1776.^[1] Starting in the late 16th century, the English, Scottish, French, Swedes, Germans and the Dutch began to colonize eastern North America.^[2][3] Many early attempts—notably the Lost Colony of Roanoke—ended in failure, but successful colonies were soon established. The colonists who came to the New World were from a variety of different social and religious groups who settled in different locations on the seaboard. The Dutch of New Netherland, the Swedes and Finns of New Sweden, the Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Puritans of New England, the English settlers of Jamestown, and the "worthy poor" of Georgia, and others—each group came to the new continent for different reasons and created colonies with distinct social, religious, political and economic structures.^[4]

Colorado River

The Colorado River ('Aha Kwahwat in Mojave),^[2] or the Red River, is a river in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately 2,330 kilometres (1,450 mi) long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The natural course of the river flows from 25 km (16 mi) north of Grand Lake, Colorado into the Gulf of California, but the heavy use of the river as an irrigation source for the Imperial Valley has desiccated the lower course of the river in Mexico such that it no longer consistently reaches the sea.

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz^[4] after U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld^[5] and Rasul v. Bush[1] and were coordinated through the Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants.

Comecon

The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Russian: Совет экономической взаимопомощи, Sovet ekonomicheskoy vsaymopomoshchi, СЭВ, SEV, English abbreviation COMECON, CMEA, or CAME), 1949–1991, was an economic organization of communist states and a kind of Eastern Bloc equivalent to—but less geographically inclusive than—the European Economic Community. The military equivalent to the Comecon was the Warsaw Pact, though Comecon's membership was significantly wider. The Comecon was the Eastern Bloc's reply to the formation of the OEEC (Organization of European Economic Co-operation).^[1]

Committee to Re-elect the President

The Committee to Re-elect the President, abbreviated CRP but often mocked by the acronym CREEP, was a fundraising organization of United States President Richard Nixon's administration. Besides its re-election activities, CRP employed money laundering and slush funds and was directly and actively involved in the Watergate scandal.

Communications Security Establishment Canada

The Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC or CSE) (French: Centre de la sécurité des télécommunications Canada) (CSTC or CST) is the Canadian government's foreign intelligence and national cryptologic agency. Administered under the Department of National Defence (DND), it is charged with the duty of keeping track of foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT), and protecting Canadian government electronic information and communication networks. The CSEC is accountable to the Minister of National Defence through two deputy ministers, one of whom is responsible for Administration, the other Policy and Operations. The Minister of National Defence is in turn accountable to the Cabinet and Parliament.

Communications in the United States

The primary regulator of communications in the United States is the Federal Communications Commission. It closely regulates all of the industries mentioned below with the exception of the Internet service provider industry.

Communism

Communism is a social structure in which classes are abolished and property is commonly controlled, as well as an ideology and social movement that advocates and aims to create such a society.^[1] Karl Marx, the father of communist thought, posited that communism would be the final stage in society, which would be achieved through a proletarian revolution and only possible after a socialist stage develops the productive forces, leading to a superabundance of goods and services.^[2][3]

Containment

Containment was a United States policy using military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to temper the spread of Communism, enhance America’s security and influence abroad, and prevent a "domino effect". A component of the Cold War, the policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to expand Communist influence in Eastern Europe, China, and Korea. It represented a middle-ground position between appeasement and rollback. The basis of the doctrine was articulated in a 1946 cable by U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan. As a description of U.S. foreign policy, the word originated in a report Kennan submitted to Defense Secretary James Forrestal in January 1947, a report that was later published as a magazine article. It is a translation of the French cordon sanitaire, used to describe Western policy toward the Soviet Union in the 1920s.

Contras

The Contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional) Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship. Although the Contra movement included a number of separate groups, with different aims and little ideological unity, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) emerged as by far the largest. In 1987, virtually all Contra organizations were united, at least nominally, into the Nicaraguan Resistance.

Corporation

A corporation is an institution that is granted a charter recognizing it as a separate legal entity having its own rights, privileges, and liabilities distinct from those of its members.^[1] There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business.

Council on Foreign Relations

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American nonprofit and nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to improving the understanding of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs. Founded in 1921 and headquartered at 58 East 68th Street (Park Avenue) in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D.C., CFR is considered to be 'the most influential foreign-policy think tank.' ^[1][2][3] It publishes a bi-monthly journal Foreign Affairs. It has an extensive website, www.cfr.org, featuring links to its history, fellows’ biographical information, think tank, the David Rockefeller Studies Program, Independent Task Force reports^[4] and other reports, CFR books, expert interviews, meeting transcripts, audio, and videos, Emmy award-winning multimedia Crisis Guides and timelines, Foreign Affairs, and many other publications, biographies of notable directors and other board members, corporate members, and press releases.^[5]

Counter-intelligence

Counterintelligence (CI) refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of nations, are vulnerable to attack. It is the role of intelligence cycle security to protect the process embodied in the intelligence cycle, and that which it defends. A number of disciplines go into protecting the intelligence cycle. One of the challenges is there is a wide range of potential threats, so threat assessment, if complete, is a complex task.

Counter-proliferation

Counter-proliferation refers to diplomatic, intelligence, and military efforts to combat the proliferation of weapons, including both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction. Arms control is a related term.

Counterintelligence Field Activity

Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) was a United States Department of Defense (DoD) agency whose size and budget were classified. The CIFA was created by a directive from the Secretary of Defense (Number 5105.67) on February 19, 2002.^[1] On August 8, 2008, it was announced that CIFA would be shut down.^[2]

Counterterrorist Center

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorist Center was established in 1986. It is not to be confused with the National Counterterrorism Center, a separate entity.

Country

In geography, a country is a geographical region. The term is often applied to a political division or the territory of a state, or to a smaller, or former, political division of a geographical region. Usually, but not always, a country coincides with a sovereign territory and is associated with a state, nation and government.

County (United States)

In the United States, a county is a local level of government below the state (or federal territory). Counties are used in 48 of the 50 states, while Louisiana is divided into parishes and Alaska into boroughs.^[1] These are considered "county-equivalents", as are some cities not designated as part of a county. The U.S. Census Bureau lists 3,140 counties or county-equivalent administrative units in total. There are on average 62 counties per state.

Covert US regime change actions

The United States government has been involved in and assisted in overthrowing many foreign governments without the use of overt military force, primarily through the Central Intelligence Agency.

Covert operations

A covert operation (also as CoveOps or covert ops) is a military, intelligence or law enforcement operation that is carried clandestinely and, often, outside of official channels. Covert operations aim to fulfill their mission objectives without any parties knowing who sponsored or carried out the operation.

Crime in the United States

Crime statistics for the United States are published annually by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Uniform Crime Reports which represents crimes reported to the police. The Bureau of Justice Statistics conducts the annual National Crime Victimization Survey which captures crimes not reported to the police.

Criticism of the War on Terrorism

Criticism of the War on Terrorism (also named the War on Terror) addresses the issues, morals, ethics, efficiency, economics, and other questions surrounding the War on Terrorism. Arguments are also made against the phrase itself, calling it a misnomer.

Croatia

Croatia ( /kroʊˈeɪʃə/ (help·info); Croatian: Hrvatska pronounced [xř̩ʋaːtskaː]), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska listen (help·info)), is a country in central and southeastern Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital (and largest city) is Zagreb. Croatia borders Slovenia and Hungary to the north, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the southeast, and Serbia and Montenegro to the east.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba in October 1962, during the Cold War. In Russia, former Eastern Bloc countries, and other communist countries (i.e. China and North Korea), it is termed the "Caribbean Crisis" (Russian: Карибский кризис, Karibskiy krizis), while in Cuba it is called the "October Crisis" (Spanish: Crisis de Octubre). In September 1962, the Cuban and Soviet governments placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. When United States military intelligence discovered the weapons, the U.S. government sought to do all it could to ensure the removal of the missiles. The crisis ranks with the Berlin Blockade as one of the major confrontations of the Cold War, and is generally regarded as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to a nuclear war.^[1]

Culture of the United States

The development of the culture of the United States of America—history, holidays, sports, religion, cuisine, literature, poetry, music, dance, visual arts, cinema, and architecture—has been marked by a tension between two strong sources of inspiration: European ideals, especially British, and domestic originality.

Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948

The Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 (often simply the Czech coup) (Czech: Únor 1948, Slovak: Február 1948, both meaning "February 1948"; in Communist historiography known as "Victorious February" (Czech: Vítězný únor, Slovak: Víťazný február)) was an event late that February in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia, ushering in over four decades of dictatorship under its rule. The coup’s significance extended well beyond the country’s boundaries, however, as it was a clear marker along the already well-advanced road to full-fledged Cold War. The shock with which the West greeted the event—which bore distinct echoes of Munich—helped spur quick adoption of the Marshall Plan, the creation of a state in West Germany, vigorous measures to keep Communists out of power in France and especially Italy, and steps toward mutual security that would, in little over a year, result in the establishment of NATO and the definitive drawing of the Iron Curtain until the Autumn of Nations in 1989.

Détente

Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States, a thawing of the Cold War, which occurred from the late 1960s until the start of the 1980s. In the Soviet Union, détente was known as Russian: разрядка ("razryadka", loosely meaning relaxation, discharge).

Danish Defence Intelligence Service

The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) (Danish: Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste, short FE (often but incorrectly: FET)), is a Danish intelligence agency, responsible for Denmark’s foreign intelligence, as well as being the Danish military intelligence service. DDIS is a department under Ministry of Defence and work under the responsibility of the Defence Minister of Denmark. It is housed at Kastellet in Copenhagen.

David Frum

David J. Frum (born June 30, 1960) is a Canadian American conservative journalist active in both the United States and Canadian political arenas. A former economic speechwriter for President George W. Bush, he is also the author of the first "insider" book about the Bush presidency. His editorial columns have appeared in a variety of Canadian and American magazines and newspapers, including the National Post and The Week.^[1] He is also the founder of FrumForum.com (formerly NewMajority.com), a political group blog.

December 11, 2007 Algiers bombings

There were two near simultaneous bombings in Algiers which occurred on 11 December 2007 when two car bombs exploded 10 minutes apart starting at around 9:30 a.m. local time, in the Algerian capital Algiers.^[2] The al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for the attacks, stating that it was "another successful conquest […] carried out by the Knights of the Faith with their blood in defense of the wounded nation of Islam."^[2][3] These attacks constitute another act of violence in the ongoing Islamic insurgency, a continuation of the Algerian Civil War that has claimed 200,000 lives.^[4][5]

Defence Intelligence Organisation

The Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) is an Australian government intelligence agency responsible for assessing intelligence obtained from or provided by other Australian and foreign intelligence agencies, supporting Defence and Government decision-making and the planning and conduct of Australian Defence Force operations. The DIO is located in Russell Offices, Canberra.