Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

fered a stroke in 1986 and died the next year without revealing the

details of his involvement in the events.

CASTRO, FIDEL (1926– ). Fidel Castro has been the revolutionary

leader of Cubasince ousting the regime of Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

Atrained lawyer, Castro campaigned for a parliamentary seat in 1952,

but his political ambitions fell victim to Batista’s coup d’etat against

President Carlos Prio Socarras. Opposing Batista, Castro began his

revolutionary activities in 1953 by leading an armed attack on 26 July

against military barracks. He was caught and spent time in jail until

1955. On his release, Castro went to Mexico and organized the 26th
      of July Revolutionary Movement, which soon began attacks against
      the Batista regime from its stronghold in the Sierra Maestra moun-
      tains. The rebellion succeeded in ousting Batista on 1 January 1959.
      The United States initially recognized the Castro regime, but rela-
      tions quickly cooled when Castro began cozying up to the Soviet
      Unionin 1960. The U.S. government initiated a series of covert ac-
      tionsto oust the Castro regime, the most famous of which was the
      disastrous Bay of Pigs invasionin 1961. The U.S. also undertook as-
      sassination attempts against Castro as part of Operation Mongoose.
      The American moves probably had the effect of moving Castro closer
      to the Soviet Union. See also CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS;
      KENNEDY, JOHN F.

CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF INTELLIGENCE (CSI). Founded in

1974 within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the CSI’s mission

is to provide contextual information to key CIAleaders, to write the au-

thoritative history of the CIA, and to promote the public’s understand-

ing of the role of intelligence in national security. In support of this mis-

sion, the CSI regularly hosts conferences and publishes historical

studies on various intelligence topics, including its in-house series Stud-

ies in Intelligence. The CSI includes the CIAHistory Staff, the CIAMu-

seum, and the Historical Intelligence Collection in the CIAlibrary.

CENTRAL IMAGERY OFFICE (CIO).The CIO was established on 6

May 1992 by both the Department of Defense(DOD) and director of

central intelligence directives (DCIDs) to provide imagery to the De-

fense Department, combat commanders, the Central Intelligence

CENTRAL IMAGERY OFFICE•21

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