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Central Intelligence Agency (view source)
Revision as of 22:42, March 9, 2024
, 22:42, March 9, 2024→History
Based in [[Langley, Virginia]], the CIA is a widespread organization spanning the globe.
Based in [[Langley, Virginia]], the CIA is a widespread organization spanning the globe.
==Image and Reputation==
Cloak and dagger stories became part of the popular culture of the Cold War in both East and West, with innumerable novels and movies that showed how polarized and dangerous the world was. Soviet audiences thrilled at spy stories showing how their KGB agents protected the motherland by foiling dirty work by America's nefarious CIA, Britain's devious MI6, and Israel's devilish [[Mossad]]. After 1963, Hollywood increasingly depicted the CIA as clowns (as in the comedy TV series ''Get Smart'') or villains (as in [[Oliver Stone]]'s ''JFK'' <nowiki>[1992]</nowiki>). In the genre of spy thrillers, the films ''Three Days of the Condor'' (1975) and ''Spy Game'' (2001) have been among the top box office attractions in American cinema. They both star Robert Redford and both portray the CIA as a wicked organization.<ref>Loch K. Johnson, "Spies in the American movies: Hollywood's take on lèse majesté." ''Intelligence & National Security'' 2008 23(1): 5-24</ref> The plotlines of [[Robert Ludlum]]'s novel ''The Bourne Identity'' (1980) and the 2002 film based on the novel mix truth and fiction. Some topics are distorted while others stick very closely to the truth. Congressional oversight, ethical dilemmas tied to assassination, and real-life antagonists play significant roles in both the novel and the film. In the book the antagonists are terrorists, particularly Carlos the Jackal, but in the movie version the "bad people" are CIA officials. Although the antagonist changes between the novel and the film, they both are realistic aspects that draw the audience in.<ref>Shannon Mollie Eppa, "The Bourne Actuality: A Look at Reality's Role in the Bourne Identity Novel and Film" ''Intelligence & National Security'' 2008 23(1): 103-111</ref>
CIA culture places a premium on high-IQs of recruits, and ignores their patriotism and loyalty to the United States. Questioning a person's loyalty is regarded as [[McCarthyism]]. This has led to the predominance of leftist ideology and [[Essay:Liberal Intellectualism|intellectual]] [[elitism]] in the organization. The CIA lost influence after 1963. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] disliked its pessimistic forecasts about Vietnam; President [[Richard M. Nixon]] and his national security advisor [[Henry Kissinger]] did not seek its advice. After [[Watergate]] (1974) it came under heavy attack for its secrecy and lack of accountability. Was it needed in an age of [[détente]]? With 15,000 employees in 1973, it had a budget of about $740 million, of which $440 went to clandestine operations. Congressional committees began to monitor the agency closely. Employment and budgets were cut sharply (the totals are secret), and most covert operations were abandoned. Morale plummeted as the agency retreated to a mission of collecting and interpreting information about the Soviets.
In the Obama era, the CIA suffered damage to its reputation under Dir. [[John Brennan]] for its role in media manipulation, trying to influence domestic [[public opinion]], and tampering with U.S. elections - all in violation of the [[National Security Act of 1947]] which created the Agency.
==History==
==History==