Central Intelligence Agency

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The Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA, is the branch of the United States Government that deals with intelligence, counterintelligence, espionage, and covert operations. The CIA has been implicated in a number of conspiracies--half of them documented and well established, others on the fringes of reality.

No other U.S. government institution has been the topic of so much speculation, suspicion, or fascination as the CIA has.

1 Early History
- 1.1 Former Nazis
- 1.2 Public Law 110
2 See also
3 External Links
4 Relevant Discussion Threads

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Early History

The CIA came into being as a result of the National Security Act of 1947, signed by Harry Truman. Prior to that, intelligence activities were run by the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS, which was dissolved in 1945 after the end of World War II. However, Major General William J. Donovan, the wartime head of the OSS, suggested to President Roosevelt in 1944 that a bigger, independent agency was needed to collect and process all intelligence, as well as control all activities related to overt and covert intelligence operations.

In 1946, Truman established the Central Intelligence Group. There were massive objections to an independent intelligence group in the U.S. government, mainly from the State Department, the military branches, and the FBI. However, this did not deter Truman, and in September of 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council were born, with Rear Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter becoming the agency's first head.

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Former Nazis

One of the first things the CIA did was collect and recruit German scientists who had worked for the Nazis under the guise of Project Paperclip, as well as recruit several former Nazi operatives to become informants and agents. The CIA were willing to forget past grievances with the Nazis because the looming cold war with the Soviet Union created a need for experienced and staunch anti-Communists. It is believed that this early influence of the Nazis in the CIA led to the agency being involved in some of the most disturbing and troubling experiments on humans.

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Public Law 110

In 1949, the Central Intelligence Agency Act was passed, granting the CIA increased powers of surveillance and data collection, and also granted the agency exemption from many of the audits, checks, and balances required of other government institutions. The CIA did not have to disclose its use of funds or any of its operations. Few in the government bothered to dig too closely into the CIA, as it was believed to be a necessary evil in combating KGB activities globally.

http://www.message_riclisitz.com/

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