"The United States has carried on foreign intelligence activities since the days of George Washington, but only since World War II have they been coordinated on a government wide basis."1 Even before the devastating attack at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was concerned about American intelligence deficiencies. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked New York lawyer William J. Donovan to draft a plan for an intelligence service. In June of 1942, the Office of Strategic Services was established in order to collect and analyze strategic information required by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to conduct special operations that were not assigned to other agencies. During the World War II, the Office of Strategic Service (OSS) supplied policymakers with essential facts and intelligence estimates, and the office often played an important role in directly aiding military campaigns. The OSS never received complete jurisdiction over all foreign intelligence activities. Since the early 1930's the FBI had been responsible for intelligence work in Latin America, and the military services protected their areas of responsibility.

In response to this policy dispute, President Harry S. Truman established the Central Intelligence Group in January of 1946, directing it to "coordinate existing departmental intelligence, supplementing but not supplanting their services."3

The Central Intelligence Agency Act was passed in 1949 permitting the Agency to use confidential fiscal and administrative procedures, and this Act is the authority for the secrecy of the Agency's budget. In order to protect intelligence sources and methods from disclosure, the 1949 Act exempted the CIA from having to disclose its "organization, functions, names, officials, titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed."5

Most American citizens are not fully aware of the full extent to which the CIA has effected American society. The general public has limited knowledge of the secret operations of the CIA, but the few campaigns that are open to the public prove that the CIA plays an essential role in American foreign relations.

e OSS was abolished, and its functions were transferred to the State and War Departments. The need for a postwar centralized intelligence system still remained a problem. Eleven months earlier, Donovan, at the time a major general had submitted to President Roosevelt a proposal that called for the separation of the OSS from the Joint Chiefs of Staff with the new organization having direct Presid

Some common words found in the essay are:
Intelligence Community, Intelligence Agency, Chiefs Staff, Agency Act, Allen Dulles, Service OSS, Reza Pahlevi, Sukarno Indonesia, , War Departments, central intelligence, intelligence agency, central intelligence agency, foreign intelligence, intelligence activities, american society, effected american, effected american society, world war ii, operations cia, 1961 cia, joint chiefs staff, office strategic, joint chiefs, president franklin roosevelt,
Approximate Word count = 929
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)