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Although organized intelligence activity developed very slowly in America's first century, it has since grown dramatically in scope and complexity. Expanding U.S. security concerns prompted the creation of permanent intelligence organizations in the late 1800s, which would grow, albeit unevenly, into the precursor of the modern American intelligence system by World War II. That conflict produced an explosion in intelligence activity, but it was really the advent of the Cold War that created and shaped today's Intelligence Community. The intelligence challenges posed by the Soviet Union and its allies encouraged greater variety in both the technological means of acquiring information and the organizations established to manage them. This trend, combined with the continued importance of intelligence programs serving-and controlled by-specific government departments, produced an intelligence system lacking a strong center, which well before September 11, would lead to calls for major reform.
Intelligencea government activity that provides information to help leaders make and implement national security decisionshas always been a part of United States history. U.S. leaders have tended to give intelligence focused attention, however, mainly when threats to the countrys security appeared particularly serious. While not necessarily surprising, this tendency has helped to shape American intelligence development:
* Intelligence as a permanent, organized activity of government was slow to emerge. During the country's first century, it generally appeared when a war began and disappeared when the war ended. Only in the late 19th century, when U.S. leaders grew concerned about the country's ability to protect its growing foreign interests, did ongoing intelligence organizations begin to take hold.
* Once intelligence emerged as a bureaucratic activity, its management became an increasingly complex challenge. Expansion of U.S. national security concerns during the 20th century-combined with technological advances-encouraged an increased scope and complexity of intelligence missions, most of them linked to specific government departments, especially the military. The result has been multiple, relatively independent intelligence organizations and recurring debate about the need for stronger central control.
This article will briefly trace the development of U.S. intelligence from the Revolutionary War to the post-September 11 period. It will focus on the growth of U.S. efforts to collect and assess information on foreign nations or groups, and to a lesser extent, on attempts to secretly influence the behavior...