Central Intelligence Agency

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

Established:	July 26, 1947
Activated:	September 18, 1947
Director:	General Michael V. Hayden, USAF
Deputy Director:	Stephen R. Kappes
Associate Deputy Director:	Michael J. Morrell
Associate Director for Military Support:	MGen. John T. Brennan, USAF
Director of the NCS:	Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr.
Director of Intelligence:	John Kringen
Director of S&T:	Stephanie L. O'Sullivan
Director of Support:	Scott White
Director of the CSI:	Carmen A. Medina
Director of Public Affairs:	Mark Mansfield
Inspector General:	John L. Helgerson
General Counsel:	John A. Rizzo (acting)
Budget:	Classified
Employees:	Classified

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an intelligence agency of the United States government. Its primary function is obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and persons, and reporting such information to the branches of the government.

Its headquarters is in the community of Langley in the McLean CDP of Fairfax County, Virginia, a few miles Northwest from downtown Washington, D.C. along the Potomac River. The CIA is part of the U.S. Intelligence Community, led by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). 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) and Israel's Mossad.

The CIA is sometimes referred to euphemistically in government and military parlance as Other Government Agencies (or OGA), particularly when its operations in a particular area are an open secret. Other terms include The Corporation and The Agency.

History

Original sign with seal from the CIA's first building on E Street in Washington, DC

The Central Intelligence Agency was created by Congress with the National Security Act of 1947 and signed 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. But the need for a postwar centralized intelligence system was clearly recognized. Eleven months earlier, in 1944, William J. Donovan (a.k.a. Wild Bill Donovan), the OSS's creator, proposed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt creating a new espionage 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." 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."

Despite opposition from the military establishment, the State Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), President Truman established the Central Intelligence Group in January 1946. Later, under the National Security Act of 1947 (effective September 18, 1947), the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency were established. Rear Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter was appointed as the first Director of Central Intelligence.

In the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency, several disposed Nazi operational agents were recruited as U.S. secret agents, yet formed just a minor portion of the agents at that time; they were induced financially and promised exemption from criminal prosecution and trial for war crimes committed during World War II. Additionally, many scientists were also extracted from Germany in order to aid the U.S.; their recruitment was under aegis of Operation Paperclip.

The now declassified National Security Council Directive on Office of Special Projects, June 18, 1948 (NSC 10/2) provided the operating instructions for the CIA:

Plan and conduct covert operations which are conducted or sponsored by this government 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 unauthorised persons and that if uncovered the US Government can plausibly disclaim any responsibility for them. Covert action shall include any covert activities related to: propaganda; economic warfare; preventive direct action, including sabotage, anti-sabotage, demolition, and evacuation measures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance movements, guerrillas and refugee liberation groups, and support of indigenous anti-Communist elements in threatened countries of the free world.

The 16-foot diameter granite CIA seal in the lobby of the Original Headquarters Building

In 1949, the Central Intelligence Agency Act (a.k.a. Public Law 81-110) was passed, permitting the agency's using confidential, fiscal, and administrative procedures, and exempting it from most of the usual limitations on the use of federal funds. The act 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. By 1949, the West German intelligence agency Bundesnachrichtendienst, under Reinhard Gehlen, was under the CIA's control.

In 1950, the CIA organized the Pacific Corporation, the first of many CIA private enterprises. Director Hillenkoetter approved Project BLUEBIRD, the CIA's first mind control program. In 1951, the Columbia Broadcasting System began co-operating with the CIA; President Truman created the Office of Current Intelligence; Project BLUEBIRD was renamed Project ARTICHOKE.

During the first years of its existence, other branches of government did not exercise much control over the Central Intelligence Agency; justified by the desire to match and defeat KGB actions throughout the globe, a task many believed could be accomplished only through an approach as equally ungentlemanly as the KGB's, consequently, few in government closely inquired about the CIA's activity. The rapid expansion of the CIA, and a developed sense of independence under the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Allen Dulles added to this trend.

Things came to a head in the early 1970s, around the time of the Watergate political burglary affair. A dominant feature of political life during that period were the attempts of Congress to assert oversight of U.S. Presidency, the executive branch of the U.S. Government. Revelations about past CIA activities, such as assassinations and attempted assassinations of foreign leaders, illegal domestic spying on U.S. citizens, provided the opportunities to execute Congressional oversight of U.S. intelligence operations. Hastening the Central Intelligence Agency's fall from grace were the burglary of the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic Party by ex-CIA agents, and President Nixon's subsequent use of the CIA to impede the FBI's investigation of the burglary. In the famous "smoking gun" audio tape provoking 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 of Cuba, and, therefore, that the CIA should tell the FBI to cease investigating the Watergate burglary, due to reasons of "national security".

The entrance of the CIA Headquarters.

DCI James R. Schlesinger had commissioned reports on past CIA crimes; the reports, known as "The Family Jewels", were kept close to the Agency's chest until Seymour Hersh broke the news in an article, in the New York Times, that the CIA had assassinated foreign leaders, and had kept files on some seven thousand American citizens involved in the peace movement (Operation CHAOS). Congress investigated the CIA in the Senate via the Church committee, named after its chairman, Frank Church (D-Idaho), and in the House of Representatives via the Pike committee, named after its chairman Otis Pike (D-N.Y.); and these investigations provoked further politically embarrassing disclosures. Around Christmas of 1974–5, Congress struck another blow for governmental oversight when they blocked covert military intervention in the civil war in Angola. Subsequently, the CIA was prohibited from assassinating foreign leaders.

Further, President Gerald Ford, responding to protests about the intrusive activities of the CIA, set up a "Citizens' Commission" on January 4 1975 to investigate whether it had spied on Americans inside the U.S. in violation of its charter. The CIA's charter was again enforced, with the FBI solely responsible for investigating U.S. citizens.

Repercussions from the Iran-Contra arms smuggling scandal included the creation of the Intelligence Authorization Act in 1991. It defined covert operations as secret missions in geopolitical areas where the U.S. 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".

In 1988, President George H. W. Bush became the first former chief of the CIA to be elected President of the United States.

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 Central Intelligence Agency. The DCI's title now is "Director of the Central Intelligence Agency" (DCIA), serving as head of the CIA.

Currently, the Central Intelligence Agency reports to U.S. Congressional committees, but also answers directly to the President. The National Security Advisor is a permanent member of the cabinet, responsible for briefing the President with pertinent information collected by all U.S. intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration, et cetera; all fifteen Intelligence Community agencies are under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence.

Many of the post-Watergate restrictions upon the Central Intelligence Agency were lifted after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the The Pentagon. Some critics charge this violates the requirement in the U.S. Constitution that the federal budget be openly published. However, 52 years earlier, in 1949, Congress and President Harry Truman had approved arrangements that CIA and national intelligence funding could be hidden in the U.S federal budget.

Organization

Agency seal

The heraldic symbol of the CIA consists of 3 representative parts: the left-facing bald eagle head atop, the compass star (or compass rose), and the shield. The eagle is the national bird, standing for strength and alertness. The 16-point compass star represents the CIA's world-wide search for intelligence outside the United States, which is then reported to the headquarters for analysis, reporting, and re-distribution to policymakers. The compass rests upon a shield, symbolic of defense and intelligence.

Structure

• Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (DCIA) – The head of the CIA is given the title of the DCIA. The act that created the CIA in 1947 also created a Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) to serve as head of the United States intelligence community, act as the principal adviser to the President for intelligence matters related to the national security, and serve as head of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 amended the National Security Act to provide for a Director of National Intelligence who would assume some of the roles formerly fulfilled by the DCI, with a separate Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
• Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (DDCIA) – Assists the Director in his duties as head of the CIA and exercises the powers of the Director when the Director’s position is vacant or in the Director’s absence or disability.
• Associate Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (ADD) – Created July 5 2006, the ADD was delegated all authorities and responsibilities vested previously in the post of Executive Director. The post of Executive Director, which was responsible for managing the CIA on a day-to-day basis, was simultaneously abolished.
• Associate Director for Military Support (AD/MS) – The DCIA's principal advisor and representative on military issues. The AD/MS coordinates Intelligence Community efforts to provide Joint Force commanders with timely, accurate intelligence. The AD/MS also supports Department of Defense officials who oversee military intelligence training and the acquisition of intelligence systems and technology. A senior general officer, the AD/MS ensures coordination of Intelligence Community policies, plans and requirements relating to support to military forces in the intelligence budget.

Directorates and other offices

• The Directorate of Intelligence, the analytical branch of the CIA, is responsible for the production and dissemination of all-source intelligence analysis on key foreign issues.
• The National Clandestine Service, a semi-independent service which was formerly the Directorate of Operations, is responsible for the clandestine collection of foreign intelligence and covert action.
• The Directorate of Science & Technology creates and applies innovative technology in support of the intelligence collection mission.
• The Directorate of Support provides the mission critical elements of the Agency's support foundation: people, security, information, property, and financial operations. Most of this Directorate is sub-structured into smaller offices based on role and purpose, such as the CIA Office of Security.
• The Center for the Study of Intelligence maintains the Agency's historical materials and promotes the study of intelligence as a legitimate and serious discipline.
• The Office of the General Counsel advises the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency 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. OIG also seeks to prevent and detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. The Inspector General is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Inspector General, whose activities are independent of those of any other component in the Agency, reports directly to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. OIG conducts inspections, investigations, and audits at Headquarters and in the field, and oversees the Agency-wide grievance-handling system. The OIG provides a semiannual report to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency which the Director is required by law to submit to the Intelligence Committees of Congress within 30 days.
• The Office of Public Affairs advises the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on all media, public policy, and employee communications issues relating to his role as CIA director and is the CIA’s principal communications focal point for the media, the general public and Agency employees.
• The Office of Military Affairs provides intelligence and operational support to the US armed forces.

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

Relationship with other agencies

The CIA acts as the primary American provider of central intelligence estimates. It is believed to make use of the product derived from; surveillance satellites of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the signal interception capabilities of the National Security Agency (NSA), including the ECHELON system, the surveillance aircraft of the various branches of the U.S. armed forces and the analysts of the State Department and Department of Energy. At one point, the CIA even operated its own fleet of U-2 and A-12 OXCART surveillance aircraft. The agency has also operated alongside regular military forces, and also employs a group of clandestine officers with paramilitary skills in its Special Activities Division. Johnny Michael "Mike" Spann, a CIA officer killed in November 2001 during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, was one such individual. The CIA also has strong links with other foreign intelligence agencies such as the UK's Secret Intelligence Service, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Israel's Mossad, and the Australian Secret Intelligence Service. Further, it is currently believed to be financing several Counterterrorist Intelligence Centers. One of these, known under the codename of Alliance Base, was allegedly set up in Paris and jointly run in cooperation with France's DGSE. Although classified, the CIA may also be actively cooperating with India's Research and Analysis Wing and possibly Russia's SVR. The CIA worked extensively with Pakistan's ISI throughout the Afghan-Soviet War, and works with this agency closely for the War on Terror.

Historical operations

See also: CIA sponsored regime change and Category:CIA operations

North America

In the 1950s and 60s, the CIA ran a mind-control research program code-named Project MKULTRA in the United States and Canada. The project in Montreal included developing techniques used by Nazi scientists to wipe out the existing personalities of the victims.

Eastern Europe

See also: Strategy of tension

In its earliest years the CIA, and its predecessor, the OSS, attempted to rollback communism in Eastern Europe by supporting local, anti-Communist political and para-military groups; none of the attempts were particularly successful. Attempts at instigating right-wing counter-revolutions in the Ukraine and Belarus, by infiltrating anti-Communist spies and saboteurs failed. In Poland, the CIA spent years sending money and equipment to an anti-Communist organization invented and run by Polish intelligence.

Yet, it was successful in limiting native Communist influence in France and Italy, notably in the 1948 Italian election. After WWII, the CIA set up the right-wing Gladio network, a secret government network of organizations, in Italy and other Western European countries. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, independent states Gladio operatives, were involved in a series of "false flag" fascist terrorist actions in Italy that were blamed on the "Red Brigades" and other Left-wing political groups in an attempt to politically discredit the Italian Left wing.

After World War II, the CIA protected many high profile Nazi war criminals, including Adolf Eichmann. The Agency absorbed as many as tens of thousands of Nazis into the intelligence apparatus, many of whom were later sent to aid in operations in South America.

In some unexplained way, the CIA managed to acquire the Rosenholz files, containing the list of foreign spies of the Stasi, in the former GDR.

Developing world

In the 1950s, with Europe stabilizing along the Iron Curtain, the CIA then tried limiting the spread of Soviet influence elsewhere around the world, especially in the poor countries of the Third World. Encouraged by DCI Allen Dulles, clandestine operations quickly dominated the organization's actions. Initially, secret intervention proved very successful: in 1953, they successfully overthrew the Mossadegh Government of Iran, ostensibly removing the perceived anti-Western influence of the strong Iranian Communist Party. In 1954, they executed the anti-democratic coup d'état against the elected government of Guatemala, however, the political and consequent social instability created in Guatemala resulted in a very long civil war and its consequent, destructive impact upon the society, the economy, and the culture of Guatemala.

With relatively little funding, the CIA overthrew these governments, replacing them with right-wing, pro-American military regimes. According to John Stockwell, formerly a high-level CIA operative, no fewer than six million people were killed in America's Secret Wars in many Third World countries.

The lives of 83 fallen CIA officers are represented by 83 stars on the CIA memorial wall in the Old Headquarters building.

Cuba

The limitations of large scale covert action became apparent during the CIA-organized Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961. The failed para-military invasion embarrassed the CIA and the United States world-wide. Recently de-classified documents show in written confirmation that President Kennedy had officially denied the CIA authorization to invade Cuba. Cuban leader Fidel Castro used the routed invasion to consolidate his power and strengthen Cuba's ties with the Soviet Union. Later, the CIA tried and failed several times to assassinate Fidel Castro.

Vietnam

CIA operations became less visible after the Bay of Pigs, and shifted to being closely linked to aiding the U.S. military operation in Vietnam. Between 1962 and 1975, the CIA organized a Laotian group known as the Secret Army and ran a fleet of aircraft known as Air America to take part in the Secret War in Laos, part of the Vietnam War.

The CIA's Phoenix Program during the Vietnam War was described by a former official as a "a sterile depersonalized murder program.

Chile

Main article: Project FUBELT

On September 4, 1970 Salvador Allende gained presidency after four elections and became the first socialist to be democratically elected in the Western Hemisphere in the 20^th century. Soon after, President Richard Nixon ordered a covert operation to undermine Allende's government and promote military coup in Chile. Joining the operations included Henry Kissinger (National Security Advisor), Richard Helms (CIA Director), and Attorney General John Mitchell. Under the supervision of Thomas Karamessines, a special task force was established and led by veteran David Atlee Phillips. On September 11, 1973 General Agusto Pinochet, who had just 19 days prior become the commander in chief of the army, executed a bloody coup d'etat which resulted in the death of Allende and Pinochet's rise to military control of the state.

Guatemala

Main article: Operation PBSUCCESS

PBSUCCESS, authorized by President Eisenhower, is the codename for the CIA first covert operation in Latin America, carried out in Guatemala. According to most historians, the CIA-sponsored military coup in 1954 was “the poison arrow that pierced the heart of Guatemala's young democracy.” The purpose of the operation was to overthrow Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, the democratically-elected President of Guatemala. The U.S. began to worry about the growth of Communism there because of policies set forth by Jacobo Arbenz. By recruiting a Guatemalan military force the CIA's operation succeeded in eliminating the democratic government and replacing it with a military junta headed by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas.

Afghanistan

Often cited as one of the American intelligence community's biggest mistakes was the training, arming, supplying and supporting of the Mujahedeen (Islamist fighters) in Afghanistan, initiated under Carter and greatly expanded under Reagan, as American proxy soldiers against the Marxist regime and later the Soviet intervention. Part of the Mujahedeen trained by the CIA later became the core cadre of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda Islamist organization. Zbigniew Brzezinski, the National Security Advisor under President Carter, has discussed U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan in several magazines.

A report by the human rights organisation Human Rights Watch, entitled Enduring Freedom - Abuses by US Forces in Afghanistan, claims that the CIA has operated in Afghanistan since September, 2001; maintaining a large facility in the Ariana Chowk neighborhood of Kabul and a detention and interrogation facility at the Bagram airbase.

Iran

Main article: Operation Ajax

Britain, fearful of Iran’s plan to nationalize its oil industry, came up with the idea for the coup in 1952 and pressed the U.S. to mount a joint operation to remove the Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and restore the exiled Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to the throne. Brigadier General Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr. and CIA guru Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. were ordered to begin a covert operation. A complex plot, codenamed Operation Ajax, was conceived and executed from the US Embassy in Tehran. Sandra Mackey described in her book The Iranians:

For nine hours, the pro-shah army, utilizing American-style military strategy and logistics, battled pro-Mossadeq demonstrators. At least 300 people died. By nightfall, the Mossadeq partisans had drawn into a tight cordon around the premier’s palace... Forty-eight hours later he was arrested. The brief euphoric moment when the followers of Mossadeq believed that he held Iran’s destiny in his hands evaporated.

Iraq

Further information: [[:CIA and the war on terror, Iyad Allawi, Plausible denial]]

According to certain authorsTemplate:NCite the CIA supported the 1963 military coup d'état in Iraq against the Qassim government and supported the subsequently installed government of Saddam Hussein, until the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. U.S. support for the invasion was predicated upon the notion that Iraq was a key buffer state in geopolitical relations with the Soviet Union.Template:NCite There are U.S. court records indicating the CIA militarily and monetarily assisted Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War.Template:NCite The CIA also was involved in the failed 1996 coup against Saddam Hussein.

The CIA also supported the Ba'ath Party's 1968 coup d'état against the Government of Rahman Arif, with Saddam Husein eventually assuming power.

According to former U.S. intelligence officials, the CIA orchestrated a bomb-and-sabotage campaign against civilian and government targets in Baghdad between 1992 and 1995. The civilian targets included, at least, one school bus, killing schoolchildren; a cinema, killing many people. The campaign was directed by CIA-agent Dr. Iyad Allawi, the man later installed as prime minister by the U.S.-led coalition after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to at least one official.

In 2002 an anonymous source, quoted in the Washington Post, says the CIA was authorized to execute a covert operation, if necessary with help of the Special Forces, that could serve as a preparation for a full military attack against Iraq.

U.S. intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction have been focus of intense scrutiny in the U.S. In 2004, the continuing armed resistance against the U.S. military occupation of Iraq, and the widely-perceived need for a systematic review of the respective roles of the CIA, the FBI, and the Defense Intelligence Agency are prominent themes. On July 9, 2004, the Senate Report of Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq of the Senate Intelligence Committee reported that the CIA exaggerated the danger presented by weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, largely unsupported by the available intelligence.

Support for foreign dictators

The CIA's activities are controversial, both in the United States and abroad, in countries with which the U.S. has a nominal friendship, where the agency has operated (or allegedly operated). Particularly during the Cold War, the CIA supported many dictators, including General Augusto Pinochet of Chile; dictators in Central America, the Shah of Iran, and the religious despots in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Kuwait and Indonesia, who have been friendly to perceived U.S. geopolitical interests (anti-Communism, natural resource access for petroleum companies and multinational corporations, and implementing neoliberal economics), often against elected governments.

Later, the CIA facilitated the Reagan Doctrine, the illegal channelling of weapons and material to Jonas Savimbi's right-wing UNITA rebel movement in Angola (in addition to the Afghan Mujahedeen and the Nicaraguan Contras), in response to Cuban military support for the MPLA, converting, thus, an otherwise low-profile African civil war into one of the larger battlegrounds of the U.S.–U.S.S.R. Cold War.

Moreover, the CIA nominally supported Pol Pot's nativist, communist rule in Cambodia when Vietnam attempted toppling the regime in 1979. Though Communist, Pol Pot's regime was anti-Soviet and anti-Vietnamese; being aided by China during the Sino-Soviet split (at the time, there existed a Sino–American rapprochement), thus gaining the CIA's approval.

Cultural action

Since World War II, the CIA has broadened spy and counterspy missions in Europe and around the world. It has also led infiltration, propaganda and “sponsoring” missions in various intellectual circles with the support of important American cultural institutes. During Cold War years, Thomas Braden was in charge of cultural action at the CIA.

One of the most common practices is financial support brought to foundations organising exhibitions introducing American artists. In Europe, the CIA recruits plasticians, writers, musicians and other personalities with critical views representing the cultural elite who are socially involved, independent from the political instruments of their countries and uses them for its ideological and cultural fight. They will be asked to bring their support and contribution to anticommunist fight through the Congress of Cultural Freedom, an organisation built by the Agency in 1960 and financed by a fictive foundation whose funds come from the CIA. Journals like Der Monat in Germany, Preuves in France and Encounter in Great Britain are financed by the CIA.

Controversies

See also: McCarthy Era, Pinkerton Agency, and Red Scare

War on terror

Further information: [[:War on Terrorism]]

On November 5 2002, newspapers reported that Al-Qaeda operatives in a car travelling through Yemen had been killed by a missile launched from a CIA-controlled Predator drone (a medium-altitude, remote-controlled aircraft). On May 15, 2005, it was reported that another of these drones had been used to assassinate Al-Qaeda figure Haitham al-Yemeni inside Pakistan.

In June 2005, two events occurred that may shape future CIA operations.

Arrest warrants for 22 CIA agents were issued within the European Union (Schengen Agreement members). The agents are alleged to have taken an Egyptian, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, a suspected terrorist, from Milan on 17 February 2003 for extraordinary rendition to Egypt, where according to relatives of the cleric, he was tortured. The removal of Nasr was not unusual except that the Italian government has denied having approved the rendition. Similar operations of this sort have occurred worldwide since 9/11, the vast majority with at least tacit approval by the national government. Additionally, it allegedly disrupted Italian attempts to penetrate the terrorist's Al Qaeda network. The New York Times reported soon after that it is highly unlikely that the CIA agents involved would be extradited, despite the US-Italy bilateral treaty regarding extraditions for crimes that carry a penalty of more than a year in prison.

Soon after, President Bush appointed the CIA to be in charge of all human intelligence and manned spying operations. This was the culmination of a years old turf war regarding influence, philosophy and budget between the DIA of The Pentagon and the CIA. The Pentagon, through the DIA, wanted to take control of the CIA's paramilitary operations and many of its human assets. The CIA, which has for years held that human intelligence is the core of the agency, successfully argued that the CIA's decades long experience with human resources and civilian oversight made it the ideal choice. Thus, the CIA was given charge of all US human intelligence, but as a compromise, the Pentagon was authorized to include increased paramilitary capabilities in future budget requests.

Despite reforms which have led back to what the CIA considers its traditional principal capacities, the CIA Director position has lost influence in the White House. For years, the Director of the CIA met regularly with the President to issue daily reports on ongoing operations. After the creation of the post of Director of National Intelligence, currently occupied by Mike McConnell, the report is now given by the DNI—who oversees all US Intelligence activities, including DIA operations outside of CIA jurisdiction. Former CIA Director Porter Goss, himself also a former CIA officer, denies this has had a diminishing effect on morale, in favor of promoting his singular mission to reform the CIA into the lean and agile counter-terrorism focused force he believes it should be.

On December 6 2005, German Khalid El-Masri filed a lawsuit against former CIA Director George Tenet, claiming that he was transported from the Republic of Macedonia to a prison in Afghanistan and held captive there by the CIA for 5 months on a case of mistaken identity. Two months after his true identity had been found out, he had been taken to Albania and released without funds or an official excuse.

The 2003 War in Iraq

Further information: [[:Iraq War]]

In December 2005, ABC News reported that former agents claimed the CIA used waterboarding, along with five other "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques", against detainees held in the secret prisons. Waterboarding is widely regarded as a form of torture, though there are reports that President Bush signed a secret "finding" that it is not, authorizing its use.

After a media and public outcry in Europe concerning headlines about "secret CIA prisons" in Poland and other US allies, the EU through its Committee on Legal Affairs investigated whether any of its members, especially Poland, the Czech Republic or Romania had any of these "secret CIA prisons." After an investigation by the EU Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, the EU determined that it could not find any of these prisons. In fact, they could not prove if they had ever existed at all. To quote the report, "At this stage of the investigations, there is no formal, irrefutable evidence of the existence of secret CIA detention centres in Romania, Poland or any other country. Nevertheless, there are many indications from various sources which must be considered reliable, justifying the continuation of the analytical and investigative work."

On 13 December 2005 Dick Marty, investigating illegal CIA activity in Europe on behalf of the Council of Europe, reported evidence that "individuals had been abducted and transferred to other countries without respect for any legal standards". His investigation has found that no evidence exists establishing the existence of secret CIA prisons in Europe, but added that it was "highly unlikely" that European governments were unaware of the American program of renditions. However, Marty's interim report, which was based largely on a compendium of press clippings has been harshly criticised by the governments of various EU member states.

Secret CIA prisons

A story by reporter Dana Priest published in The Washington Post of November 2 2005, reported: "The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important alleged al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement." The reporting of the secret prisons was heavily criticized by members and former members of the Bush Administration. However, Dana Priest states no one in the administration requested that the Washington Post not print the story. Rather they asked they not publish the names of the countries in which the prisons are located. "The Post has not identified the East European countries involved in the secret program at the request of senior U.S. officials who argued that the disclosure could disrupt counter-terrorism efforts". While it was maintained that these prisons did not exist, recently the Bush administration has come forward and admitted their existence.

Khaled el-Masri – arrest warrants issued

On 31 January, 13 arrest warrants were issued for suspected CIA operatives, reportedly involved in the abduction and rendition of Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen who was abducted from Macedonia in December 2003 and eventually flown to Afghanistan. There he was held incommunicado in solitary confinement for four months and allegedly subjected to ill-treatment during interrogation. Amnesty International – which first wrote to the CIA and other U.S. authorities in August 2004 raising Khaled el-Masri’s case, but without response – welcomes this move towards holding accountable those suspected of involvement in Khaled el-Masri’s abduction and rendition. The organization calls on the US and German authorities to co-operate fully with investigations by German prosecutors into the involvement of U.S. and German officials in the rendition of Khaled el-Masri.

Abu Omar

Further information: [[:Imam Rapito]]

In December, Italian prosecutors asked for the indictment of 26 US citizens, 25 of whom are suspected CIA operatives reportedly involved in the abduction and rendition of Abu Omar, a man who was abducted from Milan in 2003 and flown to Egypt, where he remains in detention. Abu Omar alleges that he has been tortured in detention in Egypt, including being hung upside down and having electric shocks applied to his testicles.

Prosecutors also asked to indict nine Italian citizens, primarily operatives of the Italian security service, SISMI. In July 2006, prosecutors also issued extradition requests for 26 US citizens; however, the Italian government has failed to forward these requests to the US authorities. While Amnesty International welcomes developments towards holding both Italian and non-Italian citizens accountable for the abduction and rendition of Abu Omar, it calls on the Italian authorities to forward the extradition requests for the 26 US citizens. The organization also calls on the US and Italian authorities to co-operate fully with investigations by Italian prosecutors into the rendition of Abu Omar.

Supporting warlords in Somalia

The US has stated that it will prevent any country from becoming a free haven for terrorists but refuses to comment on Somalia. The US supported the Ethiopian intervention to restore the UN recognized government. There have been reports of Al-Qaeda members hiding in the war-torn country. The US also carried out reconnaissance flights and air attacks targeting the 1998 Embassy terrorists.

Clandestine service

In 1996, the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence issued a congressional report estimating that the clandestine service part of the intelligence community "easily" breaks "extremely serious laws" in countries around the world, 100,000 times every year.

According to the report, DO (Directorate of Operations) officers engage in highly illegal activities not only risk political embarrassment to his country and President, but also endanger the freedom of the clandestine officer himself. Regarded the facts and recent history, the case officers are held accountable for overseeing the Clandestine Service (CS) and the Director's of Central Intelligence (DCI) must work closely with the Director of the CS and directly responsible for him.

A pejorative term for people who work for the CIA or other intelligence agencies is often "spook." Another occasionally used phrase to refer to CIA officers, "Virginia farmboys," is incorrectly believed to be in reference to the Langley, VA headquarters. In fact, the term comes from one of the CIA's training facility for clandestine officers, Camp Peary, also known as "The Farm."

Drug trafficking

Further information: [[:CIA and Contra's cocaine trafficking in the US and CIA drug trafficking]]

Accusations have repeatedly been made that the CIA has been involved in drug trafficking to fund illegal operations. For example, In 1996, journalist Gary Webb wrote a series of exposés for the San Jose Mercury News, entitled "Dark Alliance", in which he alleged the use of CIA aircraft, which had ferried arms to the Contras, to ship cocaine to the United States during the return flights.

Webb also alleged that Central American narcotics traffickers could import cocaine to U.S. cities in the 1980s without the interference of normal law enforcement agencies. He claimed that this led, in part, to the crack cocaine epidemic, especially in poor neighborhoods of Los Angeles, and that the CIA intervened to prevent the prosecution of drug dealers who were helping to fund the Contras. Faced with Congressional and other media criticism (especially the Los Angeles Times), the San Jose Mercury News retracted Webb's conclusions and Webb was prevented from conducting any more investigative reporting. Webb was transferred to cover non-controversial suburban stories and gave up journalism.

After the Gary Webb report in the Mercury News, the CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz was assigned to investigate these allegations. In 1998 the new CIA director, George Tenet declared that he was releasing the report.

The report and Hitz's testimony showed that the "CIA did not 'expeditiously' cut off relations with alleged drug traffickers" and "the CIA was aware of allegations that 'dozens of people and a number of companies connected in some fashion to the contra program' were involved in drug trafficking"

Hitz also said that under an agreement in 1982 between Ronald Reagan's Attorney General William French Smith and the CIA, agency officers were not required to report allegations of drug trafficking involving non-employees, which was defined as meaning paid and non-paid "assets [meaning agents], pilots who ferried supplies to the contras, as well as contra officials and others.

This agreement, which had not previously been revealed, came at a time when there were allegations that the CIA was using drug dealers in its controversial covert operation to bring down the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Only after Congressional funds were restored in 1986 was the agreement modified to require the CIA to stop paying agents whom it believed were involved in the drug trade.

Kerry Committee report

Main article: Kerry Committee report

In 1998 Representative Maxine Waters testified to Congress:

Senator Kerry and his Senate investigation found drug traffickers had used the Contra war and tie to the Contra leadership to help this deadly trade. Among their devastating findings, the Kerry committee investigators found that major drug lords used the Contra supply networks and the traffickers provided support for Contras in return. The CIA of course, created, trained, supported, and directed the Contras and were involved in every level of their war.

The Kerry Committee report found that the U.S. State Department had paid drug traffickers. Some of these payments were after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges or while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies. The report declared, "It is clear that individuals who provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking...and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers."

Drugs in Asia

It has also been alleged that the CIA was involved in the opium/heroin trade in Asia, which was the focus of Alfred W. McCoy's book, The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, an earlier edition of which had already been subjected to an attempted CIA suppression. The CIA's operation, Air America, has also been accused of transporting drugs.

Mafia connections and assassination plots

Further information: [[:Plausible denial, Cuba Project, G. Robert Blakey, Church Committee]]

The United States government has conspired with organized crime figures to assassinate foreign heads of state. The CIA has been linked to several assassination attempts on foreign leaders, including former leader of Panama Omar Torrijos. and the President of Cuba, Fidel Castro. Between August 1960, and April 1961, the CIA with the help of the Mafia assassins pursued a series of plots to poison or shoot Castro according to the assassination plots proposed by Colonel Sheffield Edwards, director of the CIA's Office of Security.

Notre Dame law professor G. Robert Blakey, counsel for the House Select Committee on Assassinations, states that the CIA withheld information from the Warren Commission and frustrated the efforts of the Congressional Committee he represented.

According to a 1997 New York Times article, the CIA conducted a covert propaganda campaign to squelch criticism of the Warren Report. The CIA urged its field stations to use their "propaganda assets" to attack those who didn't agree with the Warren Report. In a dispatch from CIA headquarters, the Agency instructed its stations around the world to:

1. counteract the "new wave of books and articles criticizing the [Warren] Commission's findings...[and] conspiracy theories ...[that] have frequently thrown suspicion on our organization";
2. "discuss the publicity problem with liaison and friendly elite contacts, especially politicians and editors;" and
3. "employ propaganda assets to answer and refute the attacks of the critics. ... Book reviews and feature articles are particularly appropriate for this purpose. ... The aim of this dispatch is to provide material for countering and discrediting the claims of the conspiracy theorists..."

On January 13 2006, the CIA launched an airstrike on Damadola, a Pakistani village near the Afghan border, where they believed Ayman al-Zawahiri was located. The airstrike killed a number of civilians but al-Zawahiri apparently was not among them. The Pakistani government issued a strong protest against the US attack, considered a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty [1]. However, several legal experts argue that this cannot be considered an assassination attempt as al-Zawahiri is named as terrorist and an enemy combatant by the United States, and therefore this targeted killing is not covered under Executive Order 12333, which banned assassinations.

Declassified CIA torture manuals

Further information: [[:Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare and Torture manuals]]

In 1984, a CIA manual for training the Nicaraguan contras in psychological operations was discovered, entitled "Psychological Operations in Guerrilla War". The manual recommended “selective use of violence for propagandistic effects” and to “neutralize” (i.e., kill) government officials. Nicaraguan Contras were taught to lead:

...demonstrators into clashes with the authorities, to provoke riots or shootings, which lead to the killing of one or more persons, who will be seen as the martyrs; this situation should be taken advantage of immediately against the Government to create even bigger conflicts.

The manual also recommended:

...selective use of armed force for PSYOP [psychological operations] effect.... Carefully selected, planned targets — judges, police officials, tax collectors, etc. — may be removed for PSYOP effect in a UWOA [unconventional warfare operations area], but extensive precautions must insure that the people “concur” in such an act by thorough explanatory canvassing among the affected populace before and after conduct of the mission.

On January 24 1997, two new manuals were declassified in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Baltimore Sun in 1994. The first manual, "KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation," dated July 1963, is the source of much of the material in the second manual. The second manual, "Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual - 1983," was used in at least seven U.S. training courses conducted in Latin American countries, including Honduras, between 1982 and 1987.

Both manuals deal exclusively with interrogation and have an entire chapter devoted to "coercive techniques." These manuals recommend arresting suspects early in the morning by surprise, blindfolding them, and stripping them naked. Interrogation rooms should be windowless, soundproof, dark and without toilets. Suspects should be held incommunicado and should be deprived of any kind of normal routine in eating and sleeping. The manuals describe coercive techniques to be used "to induce psychological regression in the subject by bringing a superior outside force to bear on his will to resist."

UFOs and Robertson Panel

Further information: [[:Robertson Panel]]

In 1951 the US Air Force revitalized Project Grudge, a program investigating UFOs between 1948-1949. Captain Edward J. Ruppelt ran the program and recommended that the Battelle Memorial Institute, a Columbus, Ohio think tank, do a statistical analysis of existing UFO reports. The think tank released its report in late 1953. Before the final Battelle report was ready however, the CIA became interested in the UFO issue as a national security and arranged to have a secret official committee, the Robertson Panel, look into the compiled UFO data.

The Robertson Panel began in January 1953, and met for a total of twelve hours, studying twenty-three alleged UFO sighting cases. The CIA concluded that UFOs presented little or no interesting scientific data and were only a threat to the United States if sighting reports clogged communications facilities and created a climate of fear among the population which the enemy could exploit before launching an attack. The Robertson Panel therefore suggested, first, an active campaign of public education, perhaps using TV and radio celebrities and the services of Walt Disney Productions; second, an active debunking of sightings in order to de-mystify UFOs in the public mind. Implicit in this education campaign was increased air force secrecy about sighting reports so as not to support public interest. The committee also recommended covert surveillance of civilian UFO groups, in order to monitor those who could promote public interest in UFOs.

The recommendations of the Robertson Panel were implemented by a series of special military regulations. Joint-Army-Navy-Air Force Publication 147 (JANAP 146) of December 1953 made reprinting of any UFO sighting to the public a crime under the Espionage Act, with fines of up to ten thousand dollars and imprisonment ranging from one to ten years. This act was considered binding on all who knew of the act's existence, including commercial airline pilots. A 1954 revision of Air Force Regulation 200-2 (AFR 200-2) made all sighting reports submitted to the air force classified material and prohibited the release of any information about UFO sightings unless the sighting was able to be positively identified. In February 1958 a revision of AFR 200-2 allowed the military to give the FBI the names of people who were "illegally or deceptively bringing the subject [of UFOs] to public attention". Because of the Robertson Panel the air force's Project Blue Book's procedures of investigating UFOs also changed, attempting to find a quick explanation and then file them away. Project Blue Book was a successor of Project Grudge.

In 1956 retired marine Major Donald Keyhoe founded the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), a UFO investigations organization. By 1969 Keyhoe turned his focus on the CIA as the source of the UFO cover up. NICAP's board, headed by Colonel Jospeph Bryan III, forced Keyhoe to retire as NICAP chief. Bryan was actually a former covert CIA agent who had served the agency as founder and head of its psychological warfare division. Under Bryan's leadership, the NICAP disbanded its local and state affiliate groups, and by 1973 it had been completely closed.

After the Freedom of Information Act was made law in 1974, Ufologists involved in making FOIA requests reported that more than nine hundred pages of information released for the CIA indicated that the organization was collecting and analyzing sighting reports from as early as 1949. In 1997 the CIA came forward to admit its historical interest in UFOs.

Criticism for ineffectiveness

The agency has also been criticized for ineffectiveness as an intelligence gathering agency. These criticisms included allowing a double agent, Aldrich Ames, to gain high position within the organization, and for focusing on finding informants with information of dubious value rather than on processing the vast amount of open source intelligence. On October 13, 1950, the CIA had assured President Truman that the Chinese would not send troops to Korea. Six days later, over one million Chinese troops arrived. In addition, the CIA has come under particular criticism for failing to predict the collapse of the Soviet Union and India's nuclear tests or to forestall the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Proponents of the CIA respond by stating that only the failures become known to the public, whereas the successes usually cannot be known until decades have passed because release of successful operations would reveal operational methods to foreign intelligence, which could affect future and ongoing missions. Some successes for the CIA include the U-2 and SR-71 programs, and anti-Soviet operations in Afghanistan in the mid-1980s, although critics charge that these helped foster the genesis of today's terrorist groups.

Other controversies

Defectors such as former case officer Philip Agee, who later worked with the Soviet KGB and the Cuban intelligence service, have argued that CIA covert action is extraordinarily widespread, extending to propaganda campaigns within countries allied to the United States.

In a briefing held September 15 2001, George Tenet presented the Worldwide Attack Matrix: A "top-secret" document describing covert CIA anti-terror operations in eighty countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The actions, underway or being recommended, would range from "routine propaganda to lethal covert action in preparation for military attacks." The plans, if carried out, "would give the CIA the broadest and most lethal authority in its history."

Publications

One of the CIA's most well-known publications, The World Factbook, is in the public domain and is made freely available without copyright restrictions because it is a work of the United States federal government.

The CIA since 1955 has published an in-house professional journal known as Studies in Intelligence that addresses historical, operational, doctrinal, and theoretical aspects of the intelligence profession. Unclassified and declassified Studies articles, as well as other books and monographs, are made available by CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence on a limited basis through Internet and other publishing mechanisms. A further annotated collection of Studies articles was published through Yale University Press under the title Inside CIA's Private World: Declassified Articles from the Agency's Internal Journal, 1955-1992.

In 2002, CIA's Sherman Kent School 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."

See also

Media

• Vince Flynn - author of government fiction with major characters who work for the CIA
• R J Hillhouse - author of political fiction about the outsourcing of the CIA
• Gary Webb - American journalist, author of series on the Contra-crack cocaine connection
• The Agency, a CBS television series about the CIA
• Alias, an ABC television series about the CIA

Books

• At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA, George Tenet's memoir
• The CIA and September 11, a controversial book about the CIA and the events of 11 September 2001

CIA's operations

• Acoustic Kitty
• Allegations of state terrorism by United States of America
• Bin Laden Issue Station - The CIA's bin Laden tracking unit, 1996-2005
• Church Committee - 1976 committee investigating intelligence gathering by the CIA and FBI
• CIA leak grand jury investigation
• CIA sponsored regime change

CIA-related terms

• Numbers station
• Blowback
• CIA cryptonym
• Extraordinary rendition

Conspiracy theories

• 9/11 conspiracy theories
• Kennedy assassination theories

CIA's components

• In-Q-Tel - venture capital arm of the CIA
• Harvey Point - an operating base for blimps conducting anti-submarine surveillance of the Atlantic coast.
• Special Activities Division - paramilitary section of the CIA
• Technical Services Staff

CIA insiders and "whistleblowers"

• Theodore Shackley - former CIA agent involved with the Phoenix Program
• Philip Agee
• Robert Baer
• A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard
• Mary O. McCarthy
• Ralph McGehee
• L. Fletcher Prouty
• Helge Boes
• John Stockwell

Other national and international agencies

• List of intelligence agencies
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
• National Security Agency
• Private intelligence agencies
• Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)
• Mossad, Israel's Intelligence agency

Further reading

• Andrew, Christopher (1996). For the President's Eyes Only. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-638071-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Baer, Robert (2003). See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 1-4000-4684-X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Baer, Robert (2003). Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude. Crown. ISBN 1-4000-5021-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Bearden, Milton (2003). The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown With the KGB. Random House. ISBN 0-679-46309-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Blum, William (2003). Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II. Common Courage Press. ISBN 1-56751-252-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); External link in |title= (help)
• "Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents relating to the Military Coup, 1970-1976". National Security Archives Online. Retrieved September 11, 1998. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• Chomsky, Noam (2003). Hegemony or Survival. Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 0-8050-7688-3. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) Also Deterring Democracy, also 9/11
• Cockburn, Alexander (October 1999). Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press. Verso. ISBN 1-8598-4258-5. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Johnson, Loch K. (1991). America's Secret Power: The CIA in a Democratic Society. Oxford University Press. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Kessler, Ronald (1992, reissue 1994). Inside the CIA. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-73458-X. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Littell, Robert (2002). The Company: A Novel of the CIA. New York: Overlook Press. ISBN 978-1585671977. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• 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. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• McCoy, Alfred W. (2003). The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade. Lawrence Hill Books. 1556524838. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) CIA involvement with the drug trade since World War 2 to present day.
• Mendez, Antonio J. (1999). Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA. William Morrow and Company, Inc. ISBN 0-06-095791-3. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Moran, Lindsay (2005). Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy and Other Misadventures. Berkley Books. ISBN 0-425-20562-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Prouty, L. Fletcher (April 1973). The Secret Team: The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the United States and the World. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-798173-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Scott, Peter Dale (April 1998). Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America. University of California Press. 0520214498. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) CIA involvement in the drug trade during the US backed Contra war with Nicaragua.
• Saunders, Frances Stonor (1999). The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters. New Press. ISBN 1-56584-664-8. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) (AKA, Who Paid the Piper?: CIA and the Cultural Cold War 1999 Granta [UK edition])
• Smith, Jr., W. Thomas (2003). Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency. Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-4667-0. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Webb, Gary (May 1999). Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press. 1888363932. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Westerfield, H. Bradford (1997). Inside CIA's Private World: Declassified Articles from the Agency's Internal Journal, 1955-1992. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07264-3. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Woodward, Bob (1988). Veil. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-66159-0. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

External links

Official websites and documents

• CIA official site
• CIA official Freedom of Information Act (foia) site
• George Washington University National Security Archive:
  • Documents on CIA involvement with Pinochet
  • On CIA involvement in Guatemala
  • On CIA involvement with Nazi War Criminals (especially the Gehlen organization)
• U.S. National Archive's Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group.
  • Summary of newly acquired CIA name files (including Klaus Barbie)
• CIA manual on coercive questioning
• CIA World Factbook

Other links

• www.rca5600.be about the action of the Agency in Cultural field
• The Spy Who Billed Me author Dr.R.J. Hillhouse's national security blog, focusing upon the outsourcing of the War on Terror and regularly covering the latest developments with the CIA outsourcing to private intelligence corporations.
• Sourcewatch "CIA Sourcewatch". www.sourcewatch.org. Retrieved 2006-07-11. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help) Explains CIA operation methods
• Art, Truth and Politics: Harold Pinter's Nobel Prize Lecture. Online posting. 8 December 2005. 9 December 2005.
• CIA information at Rotten.com.
• Cop vs. CIA. Online posting. From the Wilderness (mirror site) /
• Cocaine Import Agency. Online posting. San José Mercury News. (On alleged drug-smuggling by the CIA.)
• The Cultural Cold War, by Nathaniel Catchpole.
• In-Q-Tel official site.
• Inside the Company: CIA Diary. Online posting. Third World Traveler: Excerpt from a book by leading whistleblower Philip Agee.
• Killing Hope, by William Blum.
• National Security Archive (George Washington University).
• "Outsourcing Intelligence". Online blogpost. Montage 5 January 2005.
• The Relations between the CIA and the Executive Power since 2001. Online posting (HTML file). ISRIA. 5 February 2006.
• The Role of Open Sources in Intelligence. Online posting (Pdf file). 31 31 December 2005.
• "Yet more turmoil at the CIA". Online posting. Janes. (On implications of the "departure" of Porter Goss.
• CIA roll of honour, awards and images.
• Central Intelligence Agency Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed
• Video's and Info
• Proposal for a Privacy Protection Guideline on Secret Personal Data Gathering and Transborder Flows of Such Data in the Fight against Terrorism and Serious Crime by Marcel Stuessi