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The Central Intelligence Agency is a United States government agency. Its primary function is collecting and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and persons in order to advise public policymakers.Prior to December 2004, the CIA was literally the central intelligence organization for the U.S. government. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 created the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), who took over some of the government and intelligence community (IC)-wide function that had previously been under the CIA. The DNI manages the United States Intelligence Community and in so doing it manages the intelligence cycle. Among the functions that moved to the DNI were the preparation of estimates reflecting the consolidated opinion of the 16 IC agencies, and preparation of briefings for the President.

When discussing the CIA, it is critical to understand when one is speaking of the older IC-wide responsibilities, or its present set of responsibilities. The IC still has internal politics, although an increasing number of inter-agency "centers", as well as the Intellipedia information sharing mechanism, are hoped to be improvements.

The current CIA still has a number of functions in common with other countries' intelligence agencies; see relationships with foreign intelligence agencies. The agency both collects and analyzes intelligence. The CIA's headquarters is in the community of Langley in the McLean CDP of Fairfax County, Virginia, a few miles west of Washington, D.C. along the Potomac River.

Sometimes, the CIA is referred to euphemistically in government and military parlance as Other Government Agencies (or OGA), particularly when its operations in a particular area are an open secret. Other terms include The Company and The Agency.

Special Activities Center (SAC)[]

The Latin motto of Special Activities Center (SAC) is Tertia Optio, which means "Third Option," as covert action represents an additional option within the realm of national security when diplomacy and military action are not feasible.

From what is known, CIA special operations consists of the Special Activities Center (formerly known as the Special Activities Division), Global Response Group, Special Collection Service, Armor and Special Programs Branch and we threw in Paramilitary Operations Officers under the Political Action Group as its own section. Within SAC there are two separate groups:

  • SAC/SOG (Special Operations Group) for tactical paramilitary operations;
  • SAC/PAG (Political Action Group) for covert political action.

The Political Action Group is responsible for covert activities related to political influence, psychological operations, economic warfare, and cyberwarfare.

Tactical units within SAC can also carry out covert political action while deployed in hostile and austere environments. A large covert operation typically has components that involve many or all of these categories as well as paramilitary operations.

Political and "influence" covert operations are used to support US foreign policy. As overt support for one element of an insurgency can be counterproductive due to the unfavorable impression of the United States in some countries, in such cases covert assistance allows the US to assist without damaging the reputation of its beneficiaries.

The Special Operations Group is responsible for operations that include clandestine or covert operations with which the US government does not want to be overtly associated. The group generally recruits personnel from special mission units within the U.S. Special Operations community.

See also[]

Genres (Book): Non-fiction[]

  • Annie Jacobsen (Author); Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins. Little, Brown and Company. 2019. ISBN 0316441430. J. R. Seeger, a retired CIA case officer who led the Agency's Team Alpha, the first Americans behind enemy lines after 9/11, reviewed the book, saying: "Jacobsen has a well-deserved reputation as a good writer and an excellent researcher,ā€ but he criticized her attention to detail, and suggested that the book's focus was too general saying that "neither of the topics are discussed in anything resembling the detail required to understand the nuance of covert action".
  • Bob Drogin(Author); "Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War", 2007. Random House. A number of other accounts of the incredible ineptitude of  Central Intelligence Agency(CIA)'s Directorate of Intelligence, National Clandestine Service (NCS), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Secret Intelligence Service(MI6), Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND).[1][2][3]
  • A Spy for All Seasons: My Life in the CIA is an espionage true account novel from Duane R. Claridge. This book follows Clarridge on his trajectory through the CIA and his alleged involvement in the Iran-contra affair.
  • A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency is a book by Richard Helms and William Hood.
  • Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change is a book published in 2006 by New York Times foreign correspondent and author Stephen Kinzer about the United States's involvement in the overthrow of foreign governments from the late 19th century to the present. His examples include mini-histories of the U.S.-sponsored or encouraged overthrow in Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and the alleged Central Intelligence Agency backed coups d'Ć©tat in Nicaragua, Honduras, Iran, Guatemala, South Vietnam, Chile, Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Some examples used in the book refer to American support for local rebels against the existing national governments that lead to a change in power. For example, in 1898, the United States helped overthrow the government of Cuba by supporting local rebels who were already fighting their government. In other circumstances, such as in Iran, Guatemala and Chile, Kinzer argues the United States initiated, planned and orchestrated the regime change.
  • Age of Secrets: The Conspiracy that Toppled Richard Nixon and the Hidden Death of Howard Hughes is a biography on Howard Hughes personal advisor, and former U.S. Senate Candidate, John H. Meier and written by newspaper reporter Gerald Bellett. The book argues that Meier was one of the people who played a role in affecting President Richard Nixon's resignation in the wake of the Watergate scandal. It also details how Meier was apparently pursued for 20 years by the CIA, the Hughes organization, as well as Nixon sympathizers.
  • The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence is a 1974 controversial non-fiction political book written by Victor Marchetti, a former special assistant to the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and John D. Marks, a former officer of the United States Department of State. The authors purport to expose how the CIA actually works and how its original purpose had been subverted by its obsession with clandestine operations. It is the first book the federal government of the United States ever went to court to censor before its publication. The CIA demanded the authors remove 399 passages but they resisted and only 168 passages were censored. The publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, chose to publish the book with blanks for censored passages and with boldface type for passages that were challenged but later uncensored. The book was a critically acclaimed bestseller whose publication contributed to the establishment of the Church Committee, a United States Senate select committee to study governmental operations with respect to intelligence activities, in 1975. The book was published in paperback by Dell Publishing in 1975.
  • Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions since World War II is a history book on covert CIA operations and United States military interventions during the second half of the 20th century. It was written by former State Department employee William Blum. The book takes a strongly critical view of American foreign policy. The book covers various US foreign policy ventures from just after World War II onward. Its basic premise is that the American Cold War-era activities abroad were done with imperialist motives. It is an updated and revised version of one of Blum's previous works, The CIA - A Forgotten History.
  • See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War Against Terrorism is a 2003 memoir by Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer in the Directorate of Operations. Baer begins with his upbringing in the United States and Europe and continues with a tour of his CIA experiences across the globe. Approximately the first two-thirds of the memoir focus on the various experiences of Baer's two-decade career at the CIA, while the last third depicts the growing cynicism brought on by the corruption and obliviousness encountered in Washington. One of the main focal points of the story is Baer's obsession with uncovering the perpetrators of the unsolved 1983 United States Embassy bombing in Beirut, Lebanon. Baer's memoir describes his own solution of the mystery. The overall theme around which the memoir is built is his view of the CIA losing its prowess due to increasing diplomatic sensitivity in Washington's foreign policies in the aftermath of political fiascoes from active American involvement in foreign politics in the 1970s and 1980s.
  • All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror is a book written by American journalist Stephen Kinzer. The book discusses the 1953 Iranian coup d'Ć©tat backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in which Mohammed Mossadegh, Iran's prime minister, was overthrown by Islamists supported by American and British agents and royalists loyal to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
  • Harlot's Ghost, a fictional chronicle of the Central Intelligence Agency by Norman Mailer. The characters are a mixture of real people and fictional figures.
  • Creating the Secret State: The Origins of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1943-1947 is a book by David F. Rudgers.
  • The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America is a book by Hugh Wilford.
  • From the Company of Shadows is a book by Kevin Michael Shipp. Read firsthand accounts of fascinating events inside the CIA and learn how the CIA conducts operations, recruits agents and protects defectors from assassination.
  • Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs is a book by Richard M. Bissell, Jr.
  • Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy and Other Misadventures is a book by Lindsay Moran.
  • Mary's Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision for World Peace is a book by Peter Janney. The book explores the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer and her connection to President Kennedy.
  • From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War is a book by Robert M. Gates.
  • Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times is a book by vetran 60 Minutes producer George Crile. The book tells the story of the covert operation by the US to arm the Afghans in their fight against the Soviet Union.
  • Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life: A Former CIA Officer Reveals Safety and Survival Techniques to Keep You and Your Family Protected is a book by former CIA officer Jason Hanson. The book details techniques from escaping handcuffs to improvising a self-defense weapon and honing "positive awareness" for defense and prevention.
  • Burn Before Reading: Presidents, CIA Directors, and Secret Intelligence is a book by Stansfield Turner.
  • The Black Tulip: A Novel of War in Afghanistan is a book by Milton Bearden.
  • Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA is a book by Jefferson Morley.
  • The CIA and September 11 is a controversial 2003 non-fiction book by Andreas von BĆ¼low, a former state-secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Defence and an SPD member of the German parliament from 1969 to 1994. The book has enjoyed considerable commercial success in Germany, where it is published by Piper Verlag, and has sold over 100,000 copies. However, it has faced allegations ranging from absurdity and fostering anti-Americanism, to anti-Semitism, while the quality of its sourcing and the timing of its publication have given rise to debate within the German publishing industry. In subsequent media appearances, BĆ¼low has defended his work, and strongly denied that its content is anti-Semitic.
  • Company Man is a book by lawyer John Rizzo. After serving under eleven CIA directors over his 34-year career, Rizo writes about virtually every significant CIA activity and controversy over a tumultuous, thirty-year period.
  • The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism is a 2008 non-fiction book by Ron Suskind, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, describing various actions and policies of the George W. Bush administration. Most notably, it alleges that the Bush administration ordered the forgery of the Habbush letter to implicate Iraq as having ties to al Qaeda and the organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The book, published on August 5, 2008, by Harper, met mixed critical reviews but inspired considerable media attention and controversy. Anticipation for the commercial success of the book was high, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that it was the "biggest release" of a crop of late-summer "big titles".
  • No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State is a book by investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald. This book takes an in-depth look at the NSA scandal that triggered a national debate over national security and information privacy.
  • Battleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War is a book by David Murphy, George Bailey and Sergei A. Kondrashev.
  • At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA is a memoir co-written by former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency George Tenet with Bill Harlow, former CIA Director of Public Affairs. The book was released on April 30, 2007 and outlines Tenet's version of 9/11, the War on Terrorism, the 2001 War in Afghanistan, the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war, rough interrogation and other events.
  • Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath is a book by investigator Ted Koppel. The book covers what would happen in a major cyberattack on America's power grid.
  • The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal is a novel by David E. Hoffman. Drawing on previously classified CIA documents and on interviews with firsthand participants, it tells the story of Adolf Tolkachev, one of the most valuable spies ever for the US.
  • Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence is a book by James R. Clapper the former Director of National Intelligence. In this book, Clapper traces his career through the growing threat of cyberattacks, his relationships with Presidents and Congress, and the truth about Russia's role in the presidential election.
  • The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World is a book by CIA researcher Douglas Valentine. This book covers Valentine's research into the CIA's involvement in drug operations, population surveillance and Vietnam.

Sources[]

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