THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE CIA FROM INTELLIGENCE GATHERING AGENCY INTO COVERT ACTIONS, 1947-1953

Abstract

There are many studies and books on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) which have been focused mainly on the covert actions of this agency, occurring through the years in many countries, but why this agency was transformed into becoming the institution we know today, has received little, if not at all, attention, from scholars and researchers. A number of major and minor myths have grown up during the last decades, years about the CIA and the craft of intelligence. Sometimes these myths have grown out of news stories or books purposely launched to “flush” out the facts, or from a lack of understanding regarding intelligence. Allen Dulles, the CIA director from 1953-1961, wrote, “It is hardly reasonable to expect proper understanding and support for intelligence work if it is only the insiders, a few people within the executive and legislative branches, who know anything whatever about the CIA. Others continue to draw their knowledge from the so-called ‘inside stories’ by writers who have never been on the inside.” The purpose of this paper is to analyze the establishment and transformation of the CIA from intelligence gathering to covert action during the beginning of the Cold War. Covert action has been a unique aspect of America’s international engagement during the Cold War and a practice that has done more than anything else to define the public image of the CIA. The CIA’s covert actions were numerous, therefore this study will examine in detail only certain operations and events which led to a slow and gradual transformation of the Agency from its initial purpose and some which were in violation of the CIA charter. This paper will present analysis on the impact which the US Presidents had in the Agency’s framework; their support for the Intelligence technological improvement; their decision-making in the CIA’s covert actions and the legality of such activities. The main primary sources are taken from the hearings before congressional committees, memoirs of former CIA directors and operators, presidents, analytical books from people on the inside and outside, defenders and critics of the Agency, so that we could present a fair analysis on the subject.