About the Central Intelligence Agency
As our world rapidly changes, so does our national security agenda. Through it all, our mission stays the same: to protect the nation and advance its national security interests. Our guiding principles, aspirations and core values keep us on course as we take on this extraordinary task.
What is CIA?
CIA is a U.S. government agency that provides objective intelligence on foreign countries and global issues to the president, the National Security Council and other policymakers to help them make national security decisions.
What we do
To stop threats before they happen and further U.S. national security objectives, we:
- Collect foreign intelligence.
- Produce objective analysis.
- Conduct covert action, as directed by the president.
We do not make policy or policy recommendations. Instead, our agency serves as an independent source of information for people who do.
We are not a law enforcement organization. However, we do work with the Intelligence Community, Department of War, and law enforcement agencies on many complex issues ranging from counterintelligence to counterterrorism.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CIAHow we do it
To meet the intelligence needs of today and tomorrow, we:
- Lead specialized, multidisciplinary teams to address high-priority issues including nonproliferation, counterterrorism, counterintelligence, organized crime, narcotics trafficking and arms control, to name a few.
- Build strong partnerships between intelligence collection disciplines.
- Produce all-source analysis on a range of topics and participate in Intelligence Community-wide efforts.
- Contribute to the greater Intelligence Community by managing services of common concern, like imagery analysis and open-source collection, while partnering on technical research and development.
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