cia summary

The CIA was established in 1947 after the National Security Act was signed by President Truman. Originally meant to coordinate intelligence reports for the President, the CIA's role expanded during the Cold War to include covert operations and intelligence gathering. There were debates about its structure and concerns about oversight, but Truman ultimately approved its creation. The CIA's early activities included providing daily intelligence briefings to the President. While its covert operations during the Cold War remain controversial, the full extent of these activities is not known to the public. The Establishment of the CIA The United States Central Intelligence Agency was established on September 18, 1947. When President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, the CIA grew out of the Wartime Office of Strategic Services, which was created during World War II to help win the war. After the war, there was a debate over the role and the structure of a permanent intelligence agency. Military leaders were wary of former OSS officials taking the lead, while civilian control raised concerns about congressional oversight and the agency's ability to conduct covert operations. Truman initially envisioned the CIA as more of a coordinating body to synthesize intelligence reports for the President, rather than an agency that will conduct its own covert activities. However, as Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union grew, the CIA evolved to take on a broader range of intelligence-gathering and covert action missions. The establishment of the CIA was a product of extensive debates among military, state, and defense leaders, with input from the public through key leaks to the media. Truman had some initial concerns about creating a powerful secretive intelligence agency in a democracy, but ultimately signed the National Security Act to create the CIA in 1947. The CIA's early mission, as outlined in founding documents, was to preempt threats and further U.S. national security objectives through collecting foreign intelligence, producing objective analysis, conducting covert action as directed by the President, and safeguarding national secrets. One of the CIA's first major activities was providing the President's daily summary, a synthesized intelligence briefing that debuted on February 15, 1946, under Truman. This established a tradition of daily intelligence briefings for the President that has continued with every subsequent administration. In its early years, the CIA was involved in a number of covert operations and intelligence-gathering activities related to the emerging Cold War with the Soviet Union. Through the full extent and details of these activities remain controversial and opaque to the public.