Angelfire Easiest Free Home Pages 2. William Albert Hewgley's Home Page 3. The Intelligence Community is a loose conglomeration of separate agency intelligence groups which gather, evaluate, and distribute information, most of which is secret. A brief description of the 13 members of the Intelligence Community is provided below, with emphasis on their major intelligence responsibilities. In addition to its foreign role, the CIA operates within the United States in accordance with Executive Order 12333, which was signed by President Reagan on December 4, 1981.
Presidents authorize covert operations through issuance of a written Finding.
Such operations are a double-edged sword, and should be avoided during peacetime except under grave situations. Within and outside the United States, the CIA operates a vast network of informants, surveillants, and support personnel. Such outside-Agency personnel complement the Agency's internal intelligence staff, which consists primarily of Agents, counterintelligence operatives, and technical and analytical support personnel. This entails the detection, penetration, prevention and neutralization, by lawful means, of espionage, sabotage, and other activities directed against the United States by hostile foreign organizations. This organization, a support agency of the DOD, provides timely, relevant, and accurate imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospacial information in support of military and other users.