Introduction The Central Intelligence Agency or the CIA is a foreign intelligence service that is supervised by the United States federal government. It collects and analyzes foreign intelligence that can potentially impact national security by using human intelligence. The CIA is possibly one of the largest governmental organizations that is often perceived as a mythical spy agency. I have discovered it through American and European movies and TV series that often present it as a powerful governmental tool that collects both domestic and foreign intelligence. My interest in it rose as I began to study organizational structure as an organization with such difficult tasks and assignments that relate to sensitive information must be highly formalized and standardized to avoid information leaks or human/technology errors. The aims of the essay are to conduct a structural analysis of the CIA to understand how it is organized. Coordination mechanisms of the CIA will be presented and discussed as well. Organization: CIA Purpose According to the CIA (2016a), its primary mission is to collect “intelligence that matters, producing objective all-source analysis, conducting effective covert action as directed by the President, and safeguarding the secrets that help keep our Nation safe” (para. 2). The task undertaken by the organization is the collection of information via various channels: open sources such as radio, newspapers, TV news, etc., satellite images, decrypt coded messages, and the collection of information from foreign citizens (CIA 2016a). Structure The CIA is a centralized organization that is divided into five basic components: the Directorate of Operations, the Directorate of Analysis, the Directorate of Science and Technology, the Directorate of Support, and the Directorate of Digital Innovation (CIA 2015b). However, all staff of the agency is subordinate to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA). Centralized organizations are characterized as those that provide the authority to make decisions to top managers (Jones 2013). Other characteristics of centralized organizations are as follows: generic/uniform decisions, formal organizational culture, and slowly changing industry/product (service, in this case) (Vallabhaneni 2013). The CIA’s decisions are bound by security and each of the Directorate’s aims, although they might not always be generic as the advancement in intelligence gathering (e.g., the use of IT and other technologies) requires a new approach toward decision-making. Organizational culture is highly formal and requires total participation (personal commitment), accountability, and constant development (CIA 2017). Employee’s responsibilities and duties are clearly outlined and have an emphasis on research-based analytic work and report filing (CIA 2008). Due to confidentiality issues, employees are prohibited from disclosing any information about their work to third parties, including families and loved ones. Since its founding in 1947, the CIA’s structure has undergone some changes, but its services and aims remained the same, which indicates the slow change process in the industry/organization. The formalization of