29 Facts About The CIA

1. The CIA considered that the CIA's efforts had put the agency in a position to respond rapidly and effectively to the attacks, both in the "Afghan sanctuary" and in "ninety-two countries around the world".

2. The CIA became the first American to die in combat in the war in Afghanistan.

3. The CIA arranged the arrests of suspected Al Qaeda members through cooperation with foreign agencies, but the CIA could not definitively say what effect these arrests had had, and it could not gain hard intelligence from those captured.

4. The CIA had maintained a network of spies in Iran, but in 1989 a CIA mistake compromised every agent they had in there, and the CIA had no agents in Iraq.

5. The CIA officers were barred from meeting Solidarity leaders, and the CIA's contacts with Solidarnosc activists were weaker than those of the AFL-CIO, which raised 300 thousand dollars from its members, which were used to provide material and cash directly to Soldarity, with no control of Solidarity's use of it.

6. The CIA issued a memo to every CIA employee directing them to disclose to him any CIA activity they knew of past or present that could fall outside the scope of the CIA's charter.

7. The CIA demanded the CIA produce a signed document attesting to the national security threat of the investigation.

8. The CIA was particularly worried that U-2 flights could be seen as preparations for first strike attacks.

9. The CIA surrendered the next day, and his coup came to an end.

10. The CIA has responded to the claims made in Weiner's book, and Jeffrey T Richelson of the National Security Archive has been critical of it.

11. The CIA has been sending weapons to anti-government rebels in Syria since at least 2012.

12. The CIA would see some success with its "Scorpion" paramilitary teams composed of CIA Special Activities Division agents, along with friendly Iraqi partisans.

13. The CIA had long been dealing with terrorism originating from abroad, and in 1986 had set up a Counterterrorist Center to deal specifically with the problem.

14. The CIA circulated a memo in the highest Washington circles accusing Ambassador McAfee of having an extramarital lesbian affair with her secretary, Carol Murphy.

15. The CIA created its office of military affairs, which operated as "second-echelon support for the pentagon.

16. The CIA was blinded by the uprising against the Maronite minority.

17. The CIA was actually arming and training Nicaraguans Contras in Honduras in hopes that they could depose the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

18. The CIA seized the opportunity to arm and finance Chad's Prime Minister, Hissene Habre after he created a breakaway government in Western Sudan, even giving him Stinger missiles.

19. The CIA would see another setback as communists would take Angola.

20. The CIA was the only part of the government that had the power to make off the book payments, but it could only be done on the orders of the CI, or, if he was out of the country, the DCI.

21. The CIA proceeded to organize the operation with the aid of various Cuban counter-revolutionary forces, training Brigade 2506 in Guatemala.

22. The CIA hoped that Castro would bring about a friendly democratic government, and planned to curry his favor with money and guns.

23. The CIA welcomed Fidel Castro on his visit to DC, and gave him a face-to-face briefing.

24. The CIA delivered a quarter of a million dollars to Joseph Mobutu, their favored Congolese political figure.

25. The CIA decided to attempt another military coup in Indonesia, where the Indonesian military was trained by the US, had a strong professional relationship with the US military, had a pro-American officer corps that strongly supported their government, and a strong belief in civilian control of the military, instilled partly by its close association with the US military.

26. The CIA mounted a psychological campaign to convince the Guatemalan people and government that Armas' victory was a fait accompli, the largest part of which was a radio broadcast entitled "The Voice of Liberation" which announced that Guatemalan exiles led by Castillo Armas were shortly about to liberate the country.

27. The CIA had different demands placed on it by the various bodies overseeing it.

28. The CIA established its first training facility, the Office of Training and Education, in 1950.

29. The CIA has increasingly expanded its role, including covert paramilitary operations.