The Value of the Central Intelligence Agency

When you mention the three letters CIA, almost everyone knows what organization you are talking about. The Central Intelligence Agency has garnered a reputation, since its inception, for secrecy and covert actions in foreign countries. Some people have very strong opinions on the existence of this government organization. They may believe that our country and our reputation would be better if the CIA was never formed. I am going to research when the CIA was formed, who formed the CIA, the success or failure of a couple clandestine operations, and finally attempt to answer the question of whether or not we are better off with or without this organization.

Towards the middle of the 20th century, the United States began to develop a need for a specific government agency to gather intelligence. One event in particular, “The Pearl Harbor bombing, which brought the United States into World War II, was considered a major intelligence failure” (Wilbert, N.D.). After this tragic event in our nation’s history, “in 1947, President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act, which created the CIA” (Wilbert, N.D.). When the agency was formed, the United States was facing the threat of communism. Its main goal was to protect Americans from this threat. Times have changed and the main goal of the CIA is now “to protect the United States from terrorist threats from all over the globe” (Wilbert, N.D.). Within the CIA, the “budget and operations have always been secret,” which provides more power and freedom and no restrictions for spending and allocating resources as it sees fit (Johnson, 2005).

In the United States today, there is a fine line between the balance of privacy and security. It’s questionable whether or not to believe that the CIA keeps and/or gathers information on you personally; according to U.S. law that practice is not legal.

The CIA is specifically prohibited from collecting foreign intelligence concerning the domestic activities of US citizens. Its...