Central Intelligence Agency

The civilian foreign intelligence service of the United States, created in 1947

Overview

The CIA was created by the National Security Act of 1947 as the successor to the wartime Office of Strategic Services. Its Directorate of Operations recruits agents and runs covert action overseas, while its Directorate of Analysis produces assessments for policymakers. Directors answer to the President, report to Congress, and since 2004 sit under the Director of National Intelligence. Landmark episodes include the 1953 Iranian coup, the Bay of Pigs in 1961, and penetration by the spy Aldrich Ames, each of which reshaped American intelligence. The agency remains the best documented and most studied secret service in the world.