Skip to main content Skip to Search Box
Definition: CIA from Collins English Dictionary

abbreviation for

1 Central Intelligence Agency; a federal US bureau created in 1947 to coordinate and conduct espionage and intelligence activities

Central Intelligence Agency

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(CIA), independent executive bureau of the U.S. government established by the National Security Act of 1947, replacing the wartime Office of Strategic Services (1942–45), the first U.S. espionage and covert operations agency. While the CIA's covert operations receive the most attention, its major responsibility is to gather intelligence, in which it uses not only covert agents but such technological resources as satellite photos and intercepted telecommunications transmissions. The CIA was given (1949) special powers under the Central Intelligence Act: The CIA director may spend agency funds without accounting for them; the size of its staff is secret; and employees, exempt from civil service procedures, may be hired, investigated, or dismissed as the CIA sees fit. Under the U.S. intelligence agency reorganization enacted in 2004, the CIA reports to the independent director of national intelligence, who is responsible for coordinating the work and budgets of all 15 U.S. intelligence…
3,227 results

Full text Article 3 questions about the FISA court answered (Mar. 2018)

From The Conversation: An Independent Source of Analysis from Academic Researchers
3 questions about the FISA court answered
On Feb. 2, President Donald Trump allowed the release of the previously classified “Nunes memo.” The memo, written by Republican congressional aides, criticized information used as the basis for a FISA court surveillance application related to the Mueller probe into Russia’s possible involvement in…
| 994 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article Central Intelligence Agency

From Encyclopedia of Intelligence & Counterintelligence
“Wild Bill” Donovan, head of the CIA's...
Although the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was officially founded by the National Security Act of 1947, the CIA actually dates back to World War II. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, it was clear that the United States needed a centralized intelligence service to fight the war against…
| 5,336 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

From World of Criminal Justice, Gale
Headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency,...
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an independent federal government agency that gathers and evaluates political, economic and military information about foreign countries for the use of other U.S. government agencies. This type of information is called intelligence and much of it is…
| 806 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article Central Intelligence Agency

From The Great American History Fact-Finder
An agency responsible for obtaining political, military, and economic information from around the world. Congress created the CIA at the request of President Harry S. Truman to centralize the gathering of information deemed relevant to national security. The activities of the CIA are secret but are…
| 150 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Principal intelligence and counterintelligence agency of the U.S., established in 1947 as a successor to the World War II-era Office of Strategic Services . The law limits its activities to foreign countries; it is prohibited from gathering intelligence on U.S. soil, which is a responsibility of the…
| 152 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

From The Reader's Companion to American History
In 1947 congressional legislation reorganized the Department of Defense and created the Central Intelligence Agency ( cia ) and the National Security Council. The cia grew out of the wartime Office of Strategic Services. Its major functions are to gather foreign strategic intelligence and…
| 274 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (CIA)

From Historical Dictionary of International Intelligence
Created in 1947, the CIA was headed by the director of central intelligence until 2004, when the title was changed to the director of the CIA, to reflect the introduction of the director of national intelligence . The agency has been divided into four divisions, dealing with operations (once called…
| 474 words
Key concepts:
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the principal intelligence and counterintelligence agency of the U.S. government. It was formally created in 1947, evolving from the Office of Strategic Services, which carried out these functions during World War II. In 1947, Congress created the National…
| 530 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Central Intelligence Agency

From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
The primary U.S. intelligence entity, founded in 1947 and headquartered in Langley, Virginia, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which operated during World War II. In the wake of an investigation on the intelligence failure preceding…
| 1,264 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

From Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created by the 1947 National Security Act . It assigned the CIA the following tasks: (1) to advise the National Security Council (NSC) on intelligence matters related to national security; (2) to make recommendations to the NSC for the coordination of…
| 1,318 words
Key concepts:
Mind Map

Stack overflow
More Library Resources