Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an intelligence agency operated by the United States of America.

The Agency was created after World War 2, and it was founded as a follow-on to the wartime Office of Special Services (OSS).

Many nations, like the United Kingdom, have three intelligence agencies, a domestic counter-intelligence agency, a code-breaking agency, and an agency that operates spies in foreign countries. In the United Kingdom these agencies are MI5, GCHQ and MI6.

The United States has 17 agencies that have official intelligence duties. Up until the creation of the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), in 2001, the Director of the CIA (DCI) was the USA's most senior intelligence official, and, in theory, the directors of the more junior agencies were supposed to follow the DCI's direction. However, since he had no budget oversight of the other agencies, and they were allowed to keep their own secrets, this oversight was entirely ineffective.

Since 2001 the DNI is supposed to be the most senior intelligence official, but the DNI also has no budgetary authority, so their direction is still ineffective.