NOVANEWS
Lindsay Moran wanted to be a spy even when she was a child, and later became a CIA operative after stints at Harvard University and living in Bulgaria. But after a while, it became clear that the agency is not what she expected. She is the author of, “Blowing my Cover: My Life as a Spy,” of which she’s said, “It’s not a threat to write a book about a dysfunctional intelligence organization. It’s a threat to have a dysfunctional intelligence organization, and that was my ultimate conclusion.”
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Flag of the Central Intelligence Agency
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | September 18, 1947; 67 years ago |
| Preceding Agency | Office of Strategic Services |
| Headquarters | George Bush Center for Intelligence Langley, Fairfax County, Virginia, U.S. |
| Motto | “The Work of a Nation. The Center of Intelligence.” Unofficial motto: “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) |
| Employees | Classified 21,575 |
| Annual budget | Classified ($15 billion, as of 2013) |
| Agency executives | John O. Brennan, Director Avril Haines, Deputy Director |
| Parent agency | None (independent) |
| Website | www |
The entrance of the CIA New Headquarters Building (NHB) of the George Bush Center for Intelligence.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is one of the principal intelligence-gathering agencies of the United States federal government. The CIA’s headquarters is in Langley, Virginia, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Washington, D.C. along the Potomac River. Its employees operate from U.S. embassies and many other locations around the world. Being the only independent U.S. intelligence agency, it reports to the Director of National Intelligence.
The CIA has three traditional principal activities, which are gathering information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals; analyzing that information, along with intelligence gathered by other U.S. intelligence agencies, in order to provide national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers; and, upon the request of the President of the United States, carrying out or overseeing covert activities and some tactical operations by its own employees, by members of the U.S. military, or by other partners. It can, for example, exert foreign political influence through its tactical divisions, such as the Special Activities Division.
In 2013, The Washington Post reported that the CIA had by far the largest budget in the Intelligence Community, exceeding previous estimates. The CIA has increasingly taken on offensive roles, including covert paramilitary operations. One of its largest divisions, the Information Operations Center (IOC), has shifted focus from counter-terrorism to offensive cyber-operations.
Several CIA activities have attracted criticism. They include nonconsensual human experiments, extraordinary rendition,enhanced interrogation techniques (torture), targeted killings, assassinations and the funding and training of militants who would go on to kill civilians and non-combatants.
