textfiles/anarchy/shortfil.txt

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A Short Phile on the......  Central Intelligence Agency
   The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States (CIA)  is
one  of  several  organizations  responsible  for  gathering  and
evaluating foreign intelligence information vital to the security
of  the  United  States. It is also charged with coordinating the
work of other agencies in the intelligence community--  including
the NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
It was established by the National Security Act of 1947,  replac-
ing  the wartime Office of Strategic Services. Its first director
was Adm. Roscoe Hillenkoetter.
  The CIA's specific tasks include: advising  the  president  and
the NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL on international developments; con-
ducting research in political, economic,  scientific,  technical,
military,  and  other fields; carrying on counterintelligence ac-
tivities outside the United States; monitoring foreign radio  and
television  broadcasts;  and engaging in more direct forms of IN-
TELLIGENCE GATHERING.
  Throughout its history the CIA has seldom been free  from  con-
troversy.  In  the 1950s, at the height of the cold war and under
the direction of Allen Welsh DULLES, its activities  expanded  to
include  many  undercover  operations.   It  subsidized political
leaders in other countries; secretly recruited  the  services  of
trade-union,  church,  and youth leaders, along with businesspeo-
ple, journalists, academics, and even underworld leaders; set  up
radio stations and news services; and financed cultural organiza-
tions and journals.
  After the failure of the CIA-sponsored BAY OF PIGS INVASION  of
Cuba in 1961, the agency was reorganized. In the mid-1970s a Sen-
ate Select Committee and a Presidential Commission headed by Nel-
son  Rockefeller  investigated charges of illegal CIA activities.
Among other things, they found that the CIA had tried  to  assas-
sinate  several  foreign leaders, including Fidel CASTRO of Cuba.
It had tried to prevent Salvador ALLENDE from  winning  the  1970
elections  in  Chile  and afterward had worked to topple him from
power.
  Between 1950 and 1973 the CIA had  also  carried  on  extensive
mind-control experiments at universities, prisons, and hospitals.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter directed  that  tighter  restric-
tions be placed on CIA clandestine operations. The CIA was prohi-
bited the  following  year  from  making  secret  contracts  with
universities and other nongovernment institutions. The use of in-
trusive surveillance methods, such as wiretapping and opening  of
mail,  against  U.S.  citizens  and resident aliens would require
presidential authorization and approval by the  attorney  general
on a case-by-case basis.
  Late in the 1970s, however, fears began to arise that the  res-
traints  had  undermined  the CIA and compromised U.S.  security.
The failure to anticipate the fall of the shah  of  Iran  or  the
capture  of  the  U.S.  embassy in that country in 1979 sharpened
such fears. In 1981, President Ronald  Reagan  and  CIA  director
William  J.  Casey  pledged  to  bolster the CIA's effectiveness,
although the new administration assured the public of its opposi-
tion to domestic spying by the agency. During the Reagan adminis-
tration, the CIA has come under increasing fire for  its  activi-
ties  in  Central  America.  In  1984  the  agency was accused of
directing the  mining  of  Nicaragua's  harbors  without  keeping
Congress  informed;  the  U.S.  Senate and International Court of
Justice both condemned the action.  Further controversy developed
when  it was learned that the CIA had produced a handbook for Ni-
caraguan rebel Contras giving instruction in political assassina-
tion and guerrilla warfare.  Bibliography
   Agee, Philip, Inside the Company:  CIA  Diary  (1976);  Colby,
William,  and  Forbath,  Peter, Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA
(1978); Karalekas, Anne,  History  of  the  Central  Intelligence
Agency  (1977);  Lefever,  Ernest W., and Godson, Roy, The C.I.A.
and the American Ethic: An Unfinished  Debate  (1980);  McGarvey,
Patrick, C.I.A.: The Myth and the Madness (1972); Marchetti, Vic-
tor, and Marks, John D., The C.I.A.  and the Cult of Intelligence
(1975);  Ransom, Harry H., The Intelligence Establishment (1970);
Snepp, Frank, Decent Interval (1977).