Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

Agency (CIA), and other agencies; advise the secretary of defense and

the director of central intelligence (DCI) regarding future imagery re-

quirements; and evaluate the performance of imagery components. The

CIO, working closely with the National Reconnaissance Office

(NRO), also established imagery architectures, set interoperability stan-

dards, and supported research and development. On 1 October 1996, the

CIO was merged with the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) and the

Defense Dissemination Program Office (DDPO) to establish the Na-

tional Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), which in 2003 became

the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). See alsoCOM-

MITTEE ON IMAGERYREQUIREMENTS AND EXPLOITATION.

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (CIA). Established by the

National Security Act of 1947, the CIAis an independent govern-

ment agency whose principal task is to warn American leaders of

strategic threats to the nation. To do this, the CIAengages in three

types of activities: intelligence collection and intelligence analysis,

counterintelligence, and covert action. While the first two activities

have not been controversial, covert actions have generated much

public debate and controversy, contributing to public perceptions that

the CIAis in the business only of attempting assassinations of polit-

ical leaders and overthrowing governments.

While the CIAhas the mandate to conduct covert actions, its pri-

mary work is the collection and analysis of intelligence information

and the production of intelligence products that are disseminated to

intelligence consumers. As one of the three all-source intelligence

agencies in the intelligence community (IC), the CIAreceives intel-

ligence information from other U.S. intelligence agencies and foreign

intelligence organizations. It also collects intelligence on its own

through espionageactivities abroad. In fact, the CIAcoordinates all

U.S. espionage activities, or human intelligence (HUMINT), in-

cluding espionage conducted by elements of the Department of De-

fense(DOD), although a plan under consideration in late 2004 by the

George W. Bushadministration would transfer some of the CIA’s es-

pionage responsibilities to the Department of Defense, possibly the

Defense HUMINT Service(DH). Intelligence collection results in

intelligence analysis and the production of currentand long-term

finishedintelligence, such as the senior executive intelligence brief

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