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77 lines
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77 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
***NOTE: EXTRACTED FROM THE ACADEMIC AMERICAN
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ENCYCLOPEDIA***
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TITLE(s): Central Intelligence Agency
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The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States (CIA) is one of
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several organizations responsible for gathering and evaluating foreign
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intelligence information vital to the security of the United States.
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It is also charged with coordinating the work of other agencies in the
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intelligence community--including the NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY and the
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Defense Intelligence Agency. It was established by the National Security Act
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of 1947, replacing the wartime Office of Strategic Services. Its first
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director was Adm. Roscoe Hillenkoetter.
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The CIA's specific tasks include: advising the president and the NATIONAL
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SECURITY COUNCIL on international developments; conducting research in
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political, economic, scientific, technical, military, and other fields;
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carrying on counterintelligence activities outside the United States;
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monitoring foreign radio and television broadcasts; and engaging in more
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direct forms of ESPIONAGE and INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS.
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Throughout its history the CIA has seldom been free from controversy. In
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the 1950s, at the height of the cold war and under the direction of Allen
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Welsh DULLES, its activities expanded to include many undercover operations.
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It subsidized political leaders in other countries; secretly recruited the
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services of trade-union, church, and youth leaders, along with
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businesspeople, journalists, academics, and even underworld leaders; set up
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radio stations and news services; and financed cultural organizations and
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journals.
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After the failure of the CIA-sponsored BAY OF PIGS INVASION of Cuba in
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1961, the agency was reorganized. In the mid-1970s a Senate Select Committee
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and a Presidential Commission headed by Nelson Rockefeller investigated
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charges of illegal CIA activities. Among other things, they found that the
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CIA had tried to assassinate several foreign leaders, including Fidel CASTRO
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of Cuba. It had tried to prevent Salvador ALLENDE from winning the 1970
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elections in Chile and afterward had worked to topple him from power.
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Between 1950 and 1973 the CIA had also carried on extensive mind-control
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experiments at universities, prisons, and hospitals. In 1977, President
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Jimmy Carter directed that tighter restrictions be placed on CIA clandestine
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operations. Controls were later also placed on the use of intrusive
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surveillance methods, such as wiretapping and opening of mail, against U.S.
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citizens and resident aliens.
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Late in the 1970s, however, fears arose that restraints on the CIA had
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undermined national security. The agency's failure to foresee the revolution
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in Iran (1979) gave new impetus to efforts at revitalization. President
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Ronald Reagan and his CIA director, William J. CASEY, loosened many of the
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restrictions, but such activities as the mining of Nicaraguan harbors in 1984
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as part of the covert campaign in support of the Contra rebels and the
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still-unclear role of the CIA in the IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR focused renewed
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public attention on the agency.
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Following Casey's death in 1987, Reagan appointed William WEBSTER, then
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director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to be Director of Central
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Intelligence. His reputation for integrity helped to restore the agency's
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image, but alleged intelligence failures during the PERSIAN GULF WAR (1991)
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tarnished the record of his tenure. He was succeeded in 1991 by Robert M.
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GATES.
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Bibliography: Ameringer, C. D., Foreign Intelligence: The Secret Side of
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American History (1990); Breckinridge, S. A., The CIA and the U. S.
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Intelligence System (1986); Colby, William, and Forbath, Peter, Honorable
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Men: My Life in the CIA (1978); Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri, The CIA and
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American Democracy (1989); Karalekas, Anne, History of the Central
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Intelligence Agency (1977); Leary, W. M., ed., The Central Intelligence
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Agency (1984); Lefever, Ernest W., and Godson, Roy, The CIA and the
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American Ethic: An Unfinished Debate (1980); McGarvey, Patrick, CIA: The
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Myth and the Madness (1972); Marchetti, Victor, and Marks, John D., The CIA
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and the Cult of Intelligence (1975); Ranelagh, John, The Agency: The Rise
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and Decline of the CIA (1986); Ransom, Harry H., The Intelligence
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Establishment (1970); Snepp, Frank, Decent Interval (1977);
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Turner, Stansfield, Secrecy and Democracy: The CIA in Transition (1985);
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Woodward, Bob, Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987 (1988).
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