ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Espionage, Intelligence, and Security Volume ...

CIA, Formation and Historyearly 1960s, its broad structure had become largely what itis in 2003. Under the supervision of the Director of CentralIntelligence (DCI), one of any president’s chief politicalappointees, are four major departments, or directorates.The Directorate of Administration supervises the businessaspects of the agency, including personnel, logistics, training,and the like. The Directorate of Intelligence is the CIA’sanalysis arm; it interprets raw information and turns it intouseful intelligence for the president and the NSC. TheDirectorate of Science and Technology employs top scientiststo develop ever more sophisticated scientific tools toaid in the intelligence-gathering process. Finally, the Directorateof Operations is the traditionally glamorized componentof the CIA, for its agents conduct actual intelligenceoperations in the field.In its early years, the staff of the CIA consisted primarilyof former OSS personnel. Until recent years, the CIAwas overwhelmingly a male domain, including mostlyacademics, lawyers, and journalists. At the time, the CIAhad a distinctly academic tone, for the agency recruitedtop students from the nation’s most prestigious universitiesand placed considerable emphasis on the sober analysisof information. In 1950, the CIA employed about 5,000people who were housed in various locations in andaround Washington, D.C. In 1961, the CIA moved into itscurrent headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and continuedto grow. Today the exact number of CIA employees isclassified (about 20,000; 6,000 of whom serve in clandestineareas of the organization), but one measure of theagency’s size is the nation’s budget for intelligence-gatheringactivities, which in 1998 was $26.7 billion.In the 1950s and early 1960s, the CIA enjoyed considerableprestige, for it was primarily through intelligencethat the United States resisted the expansion of the SovietUnion and the spread of Communism. The CIA, for example,revealed the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles inCuba during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. In the 1960s,however, the CIA began to endure some public opinionscrutiny. In 1961, it backed the disastrous Bay of Pigsoperation intended to overthrow Cuban dictator FidelCastro. Later in the decade, as opposition to the war inVietnam grew, the CIA was seen in many quarters asemblematic of a misguided foreign policy. Further damagingthe agency’s reputation were revelations that it tookpart in unsavory operations in Central and South America,often undermining unfriendly regimes and propping upbrutal dictators who were friendly to American interests.In 1975, Senator Frank Church led congressional hearingsthat resulted in restrictions to the entire intelligence communityconcerning domestic spying and the implementationof stricter oversight of covert operations abroad.Because of these hearings and revelations, the CIA spentmuch of the 1980s and 1990s refurbishing its image. Afterthe terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the CIA took onadded luster as the nation looked to the agency as the frontline in the fight against terrorism. In the wake of theterrorist attacks, the CIA was again granted increasedfunding and operational authority to pursue counter-terrorismactions.Directorate of Science and Technology. In its early years, theCIA relied primarily on field operations, but in the early1960s Director John A. McCone, whose tenure as DCI ranfrom 1961 to 1965, concluded that the CIA of the futurewould have to rely more on science and technology. Untilthat time, the CIA’s science and technology efforts hadbeen scattered among various directorates. With the emergenceof ”overhead“ intelligence-gathering technology,including the U-2 spy plane and reconnaissance satellites,McCone gathered all of the agency’s scientific and technologicalcapabilities under one roof. The result was theformation of the Directorate of Science and Technology(DS&T) in 1963. Among the DS&T successes are the designand development of high-tech imagery and eavesdroppingsatellites, including the KH-11 and RHYOLITE. Itmonitored Soviet missile capabilities from ground stationsin China, Norway, and Iran. Its photographic expertsplayed a key role in monitoring such events as theChernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in the Soviet Unionin 1986 and Iraqi troop movements during the 1991Gulf War. Many of the DS&T’s innovations, includingheart pacemaker technology, have had implications formedical research.❚ FURTHER READING:BOOKS:Ranelagh, John. The Agency: The Rise and Decline of theCIA. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.Richelson, Jeffrey T. The Wizards of Langley. Boulder,Colo.: Westview, 2001.Troy, Thomas F. Donovan and the CIA: A History of theEstablishment of the Central Intelligence Agency. Frederick,MD.: University Publications of America, 1981.ELECTRONIC:Central Intelligence Agency. ”Key Events in CIA’s History.“ (January 2, 2003).Federation of American Scientists. ”Central IntelligenceAgency.“ September 23, 1996. (January 2, 2003).SEE ALSOBush Administration (1989–1993), United States NationalSecurity PolicyBush Administration (2001–), United States National SecurityPolicyChurch CommitteeCIA (United States Central Intelligence Agency)CIA (CSI), Center for the Study of IntelligenceCIA Directorate of Science and Technology (DS&T)CIA, Foreign Broadcast Information ServiceCIA, Legal RestrictionCovert OperationsUnited States, Counter-Terrorism PolicyEncyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security201