Intelligence Agencies essays

Intelligence Agencies essays Since the attacks on our country on September 11, 2001, more people have become aware of the need for our government to gather intelligence regarding what our enemies might be planning. This need has gotten even more attention in recent days as it has become apparent that those who attacked us before may well intend to attempt it again. Gathering such information has always been a function of virtually every country's government. Most Americans think the Central Intelligence Agency, or the CIA, is the agency the United States uses for intelligence-gathering. However, several other government agencies play roles as well. Some of them gather a broad range of types of information while others are more specialized. This wide range of agencies gathering information is one reason some think such agencies should have a central place where all the different kinds of information can be analyzed. In addition to the CIA, the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the National Imagery and Mapping agency (NIMA) all play prominent roles in intelligence-gathering (Richelson, 1999). In addition, however, the Department of Defense, Service Intelligence, The Department of State, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Treasury, and the Department of Energy Intelligence all gather information about events outside the boundaries of the United States that can play an important role in assessing outside The Department of Defense's intelligence arm is called the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which works to provide support information for the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and by extension, our military (Richelson, 1999). In addition to information developed by people, it gathers information on missile systems, activities on space and medical developments (Richelson, 1999). Service Intelligence ex...