CIA activities in the United States

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Central Intelligence Agency
Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency.svg
Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency
Flag of the United States Central Intelligence Agency.svg
Flag of the Central Intelligence Agency
Intelligence agency overview
FormedSeptember 18, 1947;76 years ago (1947-09-18)
Preceding Intelligence agency
Headquarters George Bush Center for Intelligence
Langley, Virginia, U.S.
38°57′07″N77°08′46″W / 38.95194°N 77.14611°W / 38.95194; -77.14611
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) [2]
Employees21,575 (estimate) [3]
Annual budget$15 billion (as of 2013) [3] [4] [5]
Intelligence agency executive
Parent Intelligence agency None (independent)
Website cia.gov

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the United States federal government, tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world.

Contents

The National Resources Division is the domestic wing of the CIA. Although the CIA is focused on gathering intelligence from foreign nations, it has performed operations within the United States to achieve its goals. Some of these operations only became known to the public years after they had been conducted, and were met with significant criticism from the population as a whole, with allegations that these operations may violate the Constitution.

1950

Starting in 1950, the CIA researched and experimented with the use of possible mind-control drugs and other chemical, biological and radiological stimuli on both willing and uninformed subjects. The purpose of these programs was to "investigate whether and how it was possible to modify an individual's behavior by covert means." [6]

CIA Director Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter approved the first mind-control study, named Project BLUEBIRD, which was later renamed Project ARTICHOKE. [7]

Crusade for Freedom

1950 was the beginning of the Crusade for Freedom, a ten-year campaign to generate domestic support for Radio Free Europe (and to conceal the CIA as the primary source of RFE's funding). [8]

Project MK-ULTRA

Project MKULTRA was a CIA program which involved, among other projects, research on the use of drugs in behavior modification. [9] One of the most controversial cases arising from the program was the death of Dr. Frank Olson, a scientist who worked in the Special Operations Division of the U.S. Army Biological Center in Camp Detrick, Maryland. [10] According to the Church Committee, as part of the MK-ULTRA experiments, Olson was given a dose of LSD without his knowledge, and eventually suffered a severe psychiatric response. The CIA sent him to New York to see one of their psychiatrists, who recommended that Olson be placed into a mental institution for recovery. While spending the evening in a hotel room with another CIA employee, Olson threw himself out his hotel room window, plunging to his death. [10] Olson's family members have contested this account. Later forensic evidence conflicted with the official version of events; when Olson's body was exhumed in 1994, cranial injuries indicated that Olson had been knocked unconscious before he exited the window. [11]

1951

Forerunner of Domestic Contact Service/OSINT

This function, run by the Domestic Contact Service (also called the Domestic Contact Division) of the CIA, was legal, as it did not violate the CIA prohibitions of police power or spying on Americans. It was a voluntary debriefing of Americans with useful information. It is now considered part of Open Source Intelligence OSINT. [12]

Office of Current Intelligence

President Truman created the Office of Current Intelligence [13] which was directed by Huntington D. Sheldon. This was a renamed and extended version of the World War II section of the OSS that gave White House and other high-level briefings.

1952-1975

A number of projects, some run by the NSA and some by the CIA, intercepted mail and electronic communications of US citizens in the United States. These programs were, by 1975, discontinued as illegal without warrants. Various interception programs under the George W. Bush administration have been restarted, although these are only allowed for communication with foreign nationals, and claims no warrants are needed under the doctrine of unitary authority.

CIA, and the rest of the intelligence community, receives product from thousands of NSA SIGINT programs. During this same period, CIA received extensive SIGINT on Southeast Asia and the Soviet bloc, and the rest of the world, and used this in preparing analytical products. Among these, for example, are nearly 200 National Intelligence Estimates on Southeast Asia, plus monthly summaries for Vietnam and specific studies relevant to military operations.

Among these were Project SHAMROCK and Project MINARET, in which the NSA, upon request by the FBI and CIA, intercepted communications of American citizens. [14]

The CIA also operated Operation CHAOS with subprograms MERRIMAC and RESISTANCE, which were domestic spying operations designed to detect threats to CIA operations and facilities. Through these programs, the CIA's Office of Security received information from US based informants regarding individuals and groups with anti-war views. [15]

These programs were judged inappropriate by the Director of the National Security Agency and shut down by 1975.

Another program, HTLINGUAL intercepted physical mail, first simply recording the source and destination addresses on the envelope, and later surreptitiously opening and reading mail. This ran from 1952 to 1973.

1973

"After Colby left the Agency on January 28, 1976, and was succeeded by George Bush, the CIA announced a new policy: “Effective immediately, the CIA will not enter into any paid or contractual relationship with any full‑time or part‑time news correspondent accredited by any U.S. news service, newspaper, periodical, radio or television network or station” At the time of the announcement, the Agency acknowledged that the policy would result in termination of less than half of the relationships with the 50 U.S. journalists it said were still affiliated with the Agency. The text of the announcement noted that the CIA would continue to “welcome” the voluntary, unpaid cooperation of journalists. Thus, many relationships were permitted to remain intact." [16]

1977

According to a 1977 New York Times article, the CIA conducted a covert propaganda campaign to squelch criticism of the Warren Report. The CIA urged its field stations to use their "propaganda assets" to attack those who didn't agree with the Warren Report. In a dispatch from CIA Headquarters, the Agency instructed its stations around the world to:

  1. counteract the "new wave of books and articles criticising the [Warren] Commission's findings...[and] conspiracy theories ...[that] have frequently thrown suspicion on our organisation";
  2. "discuss the publicity problem with liaison and friendly elite contacts, especially politicians and editors;" and
  3. "employ propaganda assets to answer and refute the attacks of the critics. ... Book reviews and feature articles are particularly appropriate for this purpose. ... The aim of this dispatch is to provide material for countering and discrediting the claims of the conspiracy theorists..." [17]

2001

Soon after 9/11, The New York Times released a story stating that the CIA's New York field office was destroyed in the wake of the attacks. According to unnamed CIA sources, while first responders were conducting rescue efforts, a special CIA team was searching the rubble for both digital and paper copies of classified documents. This was done according to well-rehearsed document recovery procedures put in place after the Iranian takeover of the United States Embassy in Tehran in 1979. While it was not confirmed whether the agency was able to retrieve the classified information, it is known that all agents present that day fled the building safely.

While the CIA insists that those who conducted the attacks on 9/11 were not aware that the agency was operating at 7 World Trade Center under the guise of another (unidentified) federal agency, this center was the headquarters for many notable criminal terrorism investigations. Though the New York field offices' main responsibilities were to monitor and recruit foreign officials stationed at the United Nations, the field office also handled the investigations of the August 1998 bombings of United States Embassies in East Africa and the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. [18] Despite the fact that the CIA's New York branch may have been damaged by the 9/11 attacks and they had to loan office space from the US Mission to the United Nations and other federal agencies, there was an upside for the CIA. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ECHELON</span> Signals intelligence collection and analysis network

ECHELON, originally a secret government code name, is a surveillance program operated by the five signatory states to the UKUSA Security Agreement: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, also known as the Five Eyes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Security Agency</span> U.S. signals intelligence organization

The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, specializing in a discipline known as signals intelligence (SIGINT). The NSA is also tasked with the protection of U.S. communications networks and information systems. The NSA relies on a variety of measures to accomplish its mission, the majority of which are clandestine. The NSA has roughly 32,000 employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MKUltra</span> CIA program involving illegal experimentation on human test subjects (1953–1973)

Project MKUltra was an illegal human experiments program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used during interrogations to weaken individuals and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture. It began in 1953 and was halted in 1973. MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects' mental states and brain functions, such as the covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs and other chemicals without the subjects' consent. Additionally, other methods beyond chemical compounds were used, including electroshocks, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, and other forms of torture.

CIA cryptonyms are code names or code words used by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to refer to projects, operations, persons, agencies, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church Committee</span> Committee investigating governmental abuses in the US intelligence community

The Church Committee was a US Senate select committee in 1975 that investigated abuses by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Chaired by Idaho Senator Frank Church (D-ID), the committee was part of a series of investigations into intelligence abuses in 1975, dubbed the "Year of Intelligence", including its House counterpart, the Pike Committee, and the presidential Rockefeller Commission. The committee's efforts led to the establishment of the permanent US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States President's Commission on CIA Activities within the United States</span> Panel investigating intelligence activities within the U.S.

The United States President's Commission on CIA Activities within the United States was ordained by President Gerald Ford in 1975 to investigate the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies within the United States. The Presidential Commission was led by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, from whom it gained the nickname the Rockefeller Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Directorate of Operations (CIA)</span> US clandestine intelligence organization

The Directorate of Operations (DO), less formally called the Clandestine Service, is a component of the US Central Intelligence Agency. It was known as the Directorate of Plans from 1951 to 1973; as the Directorate of Operations from 1973 to 2005; and as the National Clandestine Service (NCS) from 2005 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project MINARET</span> National Security Agency surveillance operation

Project MINARET was a domestic espionage project operated by the National Security Agency (NSA), which, after intercepting electronic communications that contained the names of predesignated US citizens, passed them to other government law enforcement and intelligence organizations. Intercepted messages were disseminated to the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), and the Department of Defense. The project was a sister project to Project SHAMROCK.

Project SHAMROCK was the sister project to Project MINARET, an espionage exercise started in August 1945. Project MINARET involved the accumulation of all telegraphic data that entered or exited the United States. The Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA) and its successor, the National Security Agency (NSA), were given direct access to daily microfilm copies of all incoming, outgoing, and transiting telegrams via the Western Union and its associates RCA and ITT. NSA did the operational interception, and, if there was information that would be of interest to other intelligence agencies, the material was passed to them. Intercepted messages were disseminated to the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), and the Department of Defense. No court authorized the operation and there were no warrants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five Eyes</span> Intelligence alliance

The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an anglosphere intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are party to the multilateral UK-USA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence. Informally, "Five Eyes" can refer to the group of intelligence agencies of these countries. The term "Five Eyes" originated as shorthand for a "AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY" (AUSCANNZUKUS) releasability caveat.

Operation Midnight Climax was an operation carried out by the CIA as a sub-project of Project MKUltra, the mind-control research program that began in the 1950s. It was initially established in 1954 by Sidney Gottlieb and placed under the direction of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in Boston, Massachusetts with the "Federal Narcotics Agent and CIA consultant" George Hunter White under the pseudonym of Morgan Hall. Dr. Sidney Gottlieb was a chemist who was chief of the Chemical Division of the Office of Technical Service of the CIA. Gottlieb based his plan for Project MKUltra and Operation Midnight Climax off of interrogation method research under Project Artichoke. Unlike Project Artichoke, Operation Midnight Climax gave Gottlieb permission to test drugs on unknowing citizens, which made way for the legacy of this operation. Hundreds of federal agents, field operatives, and scientists worked on these programs before they were shut down in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intelligence Support Activity</span> United States Army Special Operations unit

The United States Army Intelligence Support Activity (USAISA), frequently shortened to Intelligence Support Activity (ISA), also known at various times as Mission Support Activity (MSA), Office of Military Support (OMS), Field Operations Group (FOG), Studies and Analysis Activity (SAA), Tactical Concept Activity, Tactical Support Team, and Tactical Coordination Detachment, and also nicknamed "The Activity" and the Army of Northern Virginia, is a United States Army Special Operations unit which serves as the intelligence gathering component of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Within JSOC, the unit is often referred to as Task Force Orange. Originally subordinated to the US Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), it is one of the least known intelligence components of the United States military, tasked with clandestine HUMINT operations and collecting actionable intelligence during or prior to JSOC missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special Collection Service</span> Classified joint CIA–NSA program to insert eavesdropping equipment in difficult places

The Special Collection Service (SCS), codenamed F6, is a highly classified joint U.S. Central Intelligence Agency–National Security Agency program charged with inserting eavesdropping equipment in difficult-to-reach places, such as foreign embassies, communications centers, and foreign government installations. Established in the late 1970s and headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland, the SCS has been involved in operations ranging from the Cold War to the Global War on Terrorism.

Signals intelligence by alliances, nations and industries comprises signals intelligence (SIGINT) gathering activities by national and non-national entities; these entities are commonly responsible for communications security (COMSEC) as well.

At various times, under its own initiative or in accordance with directives from the President of the United States or the National Security Council staff, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has attempted to influence public opinion both in the United States and abroad.

After the end of World War II, all the Western allies began a rapid drawdown of military forces, including those of signals intelligence. At the time, the US still had a COMINT organization split between the Army and Navy. A 1946 plan listed Russia, China, and a [redacted] country as high-priority targets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perry Fellwock</span>

Perry Fellwock is a former National Security Agency (NSA) analyst and whistleblower who revealed the existence of the NSA and its worldwide covert surveillance network in an interview, using the pseudonym Winslow Peck, with Ramparts in 1971. At the time that Fellwock blew the whistle on ECHELON, the NSA was a nearly unknown organization and among the most secretive of the US intelligence agencies. Fellwock revealed that it had a significantly larger budget than the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Fellwock was motivated by Daniel Ellsberg's release of the Pentagon Papers. Today, Fellwock has been acknowledged as the first NSA whistleblower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010s global surveillance disclosures</span> Disclosures of NSA and related global espionage

During the 2010s, international media reports revealed new operational details about the Anglophone cryptographic agencies' global surveillance of both foreign and domestic nationals. The reports mostly relate to top secret documents leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The documents consist of intelligence files relating to the U.S. and other Five Eyes countries. In June 2013, the first of Snowden's documents were published, with further selected documents released to various news outlets through the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global surveillance</span> Mass surveillance across national borders

Global mass surveillance can be defined as the mass surveillance of entire populations across national borders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sentry Eagle</span>

Sentry Eagle, the National Initiative Protection Program, is a compartmented program of the National Security Agency's (NSA) Central Security Service (CSS) and the US Strategic Command Joint Functional Component Command - Network Warfare (JFCC-NW). Its existence was revealed during the 2013 global surveillance disclosure by Edward Snowden.

References

  1. ↑ "History of the CIA". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on June 12, 2007. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
  2. ↑ "CIA Observes 50th Anniversary of Original Headquarters Building Cornerstone Laying". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on March 24, 2010. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Gellman, Barton; Miller, Greg (August 29, 2013). "U.S. spy network's successes, failures and objectives detailed in 'black budget' summary". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  4. ↑ Kopel, Dave (July 28, 1997). "CIA Budget: An Unnecessary Secret". Cato Institute . Retrieved April 15, 2007.
  5. ↑ "Cloak Over the CIA Budget". The Washington Post. November 29, 1999. Retrieved July 4, 2008– via Federation of American Scientists.
  6. ↑ Marks J. The Search for the Manchurian Candidate. W. W. Norton. 1979. p 62,53,203.
  7. ↑ "Science, Technology and the CIA". nsarchive2.gwu.edu.
  8. ↑ Medhurst, Martin J. (Fall 1997). "Eisenhower and the Crusade for Freedom: The Rhetorical Origins of a Cold War Campaign". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 27 (4): 646–661. JSTOR   27551792.
  9. ↑ United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Human Resources, Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research (1977). Joint hearing on Project MKULTRA, the CIA's program of research in behavioral modification, August 3 1977. GPO. p. 10.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. 1 2 Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Book I, pp. 392-399.
  11. ↑ Ignatieff, Michael (April 1, 2001). "What did the C.I.A. do to Eric Olson's father?". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  12. ↑ Prados, John (2002). "Intelligence and Counterintelligence". Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy.[ dead link ]
  13. ↑ "Key Events in DI History". Archived from the original on June 12, 2007.
  14. ↑ Theoharis, Athan (2016). "Expanding U.S. Surveillance Powers: The Costs of Secrecy". Journal of Policy History. 28 (3): 515–534. doi:10.1017/S0898030616000208. S2CID   156789908.
  15. ↑ Lyon, Verne. "Domestic Surveillance: The History of Operation CHAOS." Covert Action Information Bulletin , No. 34, Summer 1990, pp. 59-62. Full issue available.
  16. ↑ Bernstein, Carl. "The CIA and the Media: How Americas Most Powerful News Media Worked Hand in Glove with the Central Intelligence Agency and Why the Church Committee Covered It Up". Archived from the original on 2020-07-17. Retrieved 2008-04-25. originally appeared in Rolling Stone, 1977, reprinted on author's website
  17. ↑ "Cable Sought to Discredit Critics of Warren Report". New York Times: A3. December 26, 1977.
  18. 1 2 Risen, James (November 4, 2001). "A Nation Challenged: The Intelligence Agency; Secret C.I.A. Site in New York Was Destroyed on Sept. 11". The New York Times. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
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