Editing Central Intelligence Agency

{{Infobox company|name=Central Intelligence Agency|image=CIA logo.png|caption=Logo|founding_date=September 18, 1947}}

The '''Central Intelligence Agency''' ('''CIA''') is a reactionary terrorist organization, officially the "civilian foreign intelligence service" of the federal government of the [[United States]], officially tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT).

As one of the principal members of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet of the United States.

Unlike the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI), which is a domestic security service, the CIA has no law enforcement function and is officially mainly focused on overseas intelligence gathering. According to one of its own officers, the CIA was responsible for at least six million deaths in its first forty years of existence.<ref>{{Citation|author=John Stockwell|year=1987|title=The Secret Wars of the CIA|publisher=Information Clearing House|title-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630173556/http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm}}</ref>

Former CIA case officer Ralph McGehee described the CIA in the following way: "The CIA is not an intelligence agency. In fact, it acts largely as an anti-intelligence agency, producing only that information wanted by policymakers to support their plans and suppressing information that does not support those plans. As the covert action arm of the President, the CIA uses disinformation, much of it aimed at the U.S. public, to mold opinion." McGehee further states: "Instead of gathering genuine intelligence that could serve as the basis for reasonable policies, the CIA often ends up distorting reality, creating out of whole cloth 'intelligence' to justify policies that have already been decided upon. Policymakers then leak this 'intelligence' to the media to deceive us all and gain our support."<ref>Ralph W. McGehee. ''[https://archive.org/details/11-deadly-deceits-my-25-years-in-ralph-w.-mc-gehee Deadly Deceits: My 25 Years in the CIA]''. 1983. Open Road Integrated Media, New York. </ref>

According to former CIA officer John Stockwell, among the "major functions" of the CIA is the dissemination of false information to the press and the funding of authors to promote CIA propaganda in the U.S. literary sphere. Stockwell said in a 1983 interview that it was common practice to create "totally false propaganda" to create an "illusion" of communist atrocities, such as by planting false stories in newspapers and circulating fake photographs in the media. Citing anti-[[Republic of Cuba|Cuban]] propaganda as an example, Stockwell said, "We didn't know of one single atrocity committed by the Cubans. It was pure, raw, false propaganda to create an illusion of communists, you know eating babies for breakfast and the sort. Totally false propaganda."<ref name=":0">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1tfkESPVY "Former CIA Agent John Stockwell Talks about How the CIA Worked in Vietnam and Elsewhere."] Witness to War. YouTube. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220823212511/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1tfkESPVY Archive link].</ref> 

[[wikipedia:Human_rights_violations_by_the_CIA|Here are some human rights violations by the CIA.]] 

== History ==
The CIA was created in 1947 when president [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] signed the National Security Act into law. Its major predecessor was the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was the intelligence agency of the United States during the [[Second World War]]. The success of the British Commandos during World War II prompted U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] to authorize the creation of an intelligence service modeled after the [[British Secret Intelligence Service]] (MI6), which led led to the creation of the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS). The OSS was dissolved in 1945 and its functions were split mainly among the U.S. Department of State and Department of War. After 1945, intelligence functions were carried out by the National Intelligence Authority (NIA), the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), and others, until the CIA was eventually created in 1947. 

In November 1959, the CIA created a dedicated [[Africa]] division.<ref name=":1">Meyer, Lily. 2021. [https://www.npr.org/2021/08/12/1027183677/cia-role-in-africa-expanded-as-u-s-cold-war-worries-grew-white-malice-details “CIA Role in Africa Expanded as U.S. Cold War Worries Grew, ‘White Malice’ Details.”] NPR.org. August 12, 2021. [https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.npr.org/2021/08/12/1027183677/cia-role-in-africa-expanded-as-u-s-cold-war-worries-grew-white-malice-details Archived] 2022-09-05.</ref>

[[Allen Dulles]] was the first civilian CIA Director and the longest-serving CIA Director, serving from 1953 to 1961.  As head of the CIA during the early [[Cold War]], he oversaw the [[1953 Iranian coup d'état]], the [[1954 Guatemalan coup d'état]], the [[Lockheed U-2 aircraft program]], the [[Project MKUltra]] mind control program and the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]]. His older brother, [[John Foster Dulles]], was the [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] during the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] Administration. 

[[George H.W. Bush]], who served as the 11th Director of Central Intelligence from 1976 to 1977, would later go on to become Vice President under [[Ronald Reagan]] from 1981 to 1989, and 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993.  

In modern times, the CIA has undertaken efforts to try to rebrand itself as being "liberal" and "woke" in a disingenuous effort to appeal to the liberal sensitivities of the American upper-middle class population.<ref>{{News citation|title=The CIA and the New Dialect of Power|url=https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2021/11/the-cia-and-the-new-dialect-of-power/|newspaper=American Affairs Journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215131731/https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2021/11/the-cia-and-the-new-dialect-of-power/}}</ref> [[Moderate Rebels]] has produced a [[Library:Parody of Woke CIA Recruitment Ad|parody CIA recruitment ad]] ridiculing this trend.

In honor of the 60th anniversary of the [[Korean War|Korean war]], the CIA released several formerly classified documents regarding the war in a collection titled "Baptism by Fire" in 2013. Among the released documents, author [[Jeffrey Kaye]] asserted that the "handprint of [[Unit 731]]" was "all over" various documents which made reference to the long-alleged biological warfare conducted by U.S. forces against north Koreans.<ref>Xu Chi. [http://www.news.cn/english/northamerica/2021-09/18/c_1310196215.htm “Interview: CIA Confidential Files Expose Use of Unit 731-Inspired U.S. Bioweapons in Korean War -- U.S. Author.”] 2021-09-18. News.cn.  [https://web.archive.org/web/20220905125247/http://www.news.cn/english/northamerica/2021-09/18/c_1310196215.htm Archived] 2022-09-05.</ref><ref>Jeffrey Kaye. [https://jeff-kaye.medium.com/a-real-flood-of-bacteria-and-germs-communications-intelligence-and-charges-of-u-s-4decafdc762 "“A real flood of bacteria and germs” — Communications Intelligence and Charges of U.S. Germ Warfare during the Korean War."] 2020-09-17. Medium.</ref>

== Operations by region ==

=== Africa ===
As more and more African nations gained freedom from European colonial powers, the United States grew increasingly concerned with controlling African resources, including access to nuclear material such as uranium, and sought to control public opinion and governments in Africa. Although CIA officers had been present in Africa since the agency's inception, a dedicated Africa division was formed in 1959.<ref name=":1" />

The CIA participated in the overthrow of [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] leaders [[Kwame Nkrumah]] in [[Republic of Ghana|Ghana]] and [[Patrice Lumumba]] in the [[Republic of the Congo (1960–1971)|Congo]].<ref>{{News citation|author=Djibo Sobukwe|newspaper=[[Black Agenda Report]]|title=NATO and Africa|date=2022-07-13|url=https://blackagendareport.com/nato-and-africa|retrieved=2022-07-15}}</ref>

=== Asia ===
The [[Phoenix Program]] was designed and coordinated by the CIA during the [[Vietnam War]].

=== Europe ===

=== North America ===

=== South America ===
During [[Operation Condor]], a terrorist campaign conducted in multiple South American countries throughout the 1970s and 1980s, "the CIA and top-ranking US officials supported, laid the groundwork for, and were even directly involved in Condor’s crimes."<ref>[https://jacobin.com/2020/11/operation-condor-cia-latin-america-repression-torture “The CIA’s Secret Global War against the Left.”] Jacobin.com.</ref>

=== Oceania ===

== Functions of the CIA ==

=== Influencing public opinion ===
The CIA, through numerous agents and front organizations, plays a large role in disseminating disinformation and attempting to influence public opinion.  

In addition to disseminating false stories and fake photos to the press, the CIA has also been involved in the printing of an untold number of books that contain CIA talking points regarding topics such as history and Marxism. According to Stockwell, a thousand of such books were printed during the Vietnam War, and many of the authors who produced these books under the auspices of the CIA went on to become respected figures in academia.<ref name=":0" /> 

The CIA and its front organizations have also taken an interest in funding and being involved with particular ideological currents and philosophical schools, such as can be seen with the CIA's interest in the [[Non-Communist Left]] and the [[Congress for Cultural Freedom]] as well as promotion of the [[Frankfurt School]] and influencing the development of [[critical theory]].<ref>Gabriel Rockhill. [https://mronline.org/2022/07/06/the-cia-the-frankfurt-schools-anti-communism/ “The CIA & the Frankfurt School’s Anti-Communism.”] MR Online. July 6, 2022. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220911102147/https://mronline.org/2022/07/06/the-cia-the-frankfurt-schools-anti-communism/ Archived] 2022-09-11.</ref> 

The [[National Endowment for Democracy]] (NED) is a notable CIA-related organization used for influencing and supporting anti-communist projects.  

Media organizations such as [[Voice of America]], [[Radio Free Asia]], and [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|Radio Liberty]] also promote CIA propaganda. 

The CIA has also experimented with mind control techniques, such as with Project MKUltra. 

=== Running secret wars ===
According to Stockwell, one of the CIA's principal functions is to run secret wars.<ref name=":0" />

=== Drug trafficking ===
The CIA has regularly been accused of drug trafficking in connection with its other covert activities.

== See also ==

* [[Interview with former CIA agent John Stockwell]]
* [[List of atrocities commited by the United States of America|List of atrocities committed by the United States of America]]
* [[United States imperialism]]
*[[National Endowment for Democracy]]
*[[United States Department of State]]
*[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|Radio Liberty]]
*[[Radio Free Asia]]
*[[Voice of America]]
*[[Project MKUltra]]

== External links ==
{{External links|Wikipedia=Central Intelligence Agency|Leftypedia=Central Intelligence Agency|EcuRed=CIA}}
[[Category:Imperialist organizations]]
[[Category:Intelligence agencies]]

== References ==