Secret Intelligence in the United States, 1947–1982: the CIA’s Search for Legitimacy

WHY has the United States secret intelligence system been perpetually in controversy while other nations’ intelligence agencies usually are isolated from public policy disputes? With that as the central question this chapter will explore the American intelligence experience in the three and a half decades since the Second World War. It will place emphasis on the political and constitutional, rather than operational, issues. During this period the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was constantly striving for a legitimacy that has remained elusive.