Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world. Established in 1947 by the National Security Act, the CIA was created to coordinate the nation's intelligence activities and correlate, evaluate, and disseminate intelligence affecting national security. The agency's primary mission is to provide national security intelligence to senior US policymakers, including the President and Cabinet, and to conduct covert operations as directed by the President.