In 1947, President Harry S. Truman created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) when he signed the National Security Act. This act also created a Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) who would serve as head of the United States intelligence community and as head of CIA. The DCI would also be the President's principal adviser on matters of intelligence. .
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 amended the National Security Act to create the position of a Director of National Intelligence who would assume some of the roles that the DCI formerly filled. The Central Intelligence Agency would have a separate director who would report to the Director of National Intelligence.
The responsibilities of the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency include:
- Collecting intelligence through human sources and by other appropriate means, except that he shall have no police, subpoena, or law enforcement powers or internal security functions;
- Correlating and evaluating intelligence related to the national security and providing appropriate dissemination of such intelligence;
- Providing overall direction for and coordination of the collection of national intelligence outside the United States through human sources by elements of the Intelligence Community authorized to undertake such collection and, in coordination with other departments, agencies, or elements of the United States Government which are authorized to undertake such collection, ensuring that the most effective use is made of resources and that appropriate account is taken of the risks to the United States and those involved in such collection; and
- Performing such other functions and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security as the President or the Director of National Intelligence may direct.
On May 30, 2006, General Michael V. Hayden, USAF, became Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The CIA's role is to assist the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in carrying out his or her responsibilities. To do this, the CIA researches, develops and deploys high-leverage technology for the purpose of providing intelligence. The CIA is also an independent source of analysis on important topics. In addition, it works with other Intelligence organizations to make sure that consumers of intelligence - from battlefield commander to Washington policymaker - receive the best intelligence.
The CIA has been increasingly challenged as global changes have reprioritized the national security agenda. The CIA has met its challenges by:
- Creating special, multidisciplinary centers to address high-priority issues, including nonproliferation, counterterrorism, counterintelligence, arms control intelligence, organized crime and narcotics trafficking and the environment.
- Creating stronger partnerships between the several intelligence collection disciplines and all-source analysis.
- Becoming actively involved in the analytical efforts of the Intelligence Community and creating all-source analysis on all of the topics that affect national security.
- Enabling the overall Intelligence Community to become more effective by working with other intelligence agencies in research and development and technical collection, and by managing services of common concern in imagery analysis and open-source collection.
The CIA is focused on maintaining an adaptable approach to intelligence collection. Thus, it can provide tailored support for key intelligence consumers in the post-Cold War World.
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