CIA

This article discusses a group, project, or location which also exists outside the Person of Interest universe.
Its portrayal in the show may differ significantly from its real-world counterpart.

Central Intelligence Agency

Name

Central Intelligence Agency

First Appearance

“Pilot”

Latest Appearance

“Truth Be Told”

Connection

John Reese

Status

Active

The Central Intelligence Agency is a U.S. government agency that operates on foreign soil as the FBI does inside the U.S. Nicknamed "The Company", it gathers intelligence and presents it to the President of the United States, the United States Congress, the DoD, and other top-level decision-makers who must make decisions that protect the U.S., its citizens and its interests from various threats.

The CIA divulges information about its activities to Congress and the President; however, it is suspected of extralegal activities. These "black operations" involve action against enemy governments or non-state actors, such as assassinations, inciting rebellion and (counter-)espionage. Agents involved in these missions may be disavowed if discovered.

Officially and according to its charter, the CIA does not conduct operations in the U.S, but is suspected of it. These activities, while illegal, keep terrorist attacks from occurring.

Portrayal in the Show[]

John Reese is a former CIA operative, initially presumed dead but discovered lurking in New York City in 2011. ^{(“Pilot”)} He is tracked by his former handler, Mark Snow, who directed Reese's final mission. As the mission was supposed to end with the elimination of Reese and his partner, Snow intends to follow through with the cover-up. ^{(“Matsya Nyaya”)}

One particular person of interest was an NYPD undercover detective investigating a drug distribution operation that turned out to be part of a CIA domestic operation bankrolling the "War on Terror" through drug sales. One of the agents responsible for the operation, L.O.S., was arrested by the NYPD for his involvement, but immediately bailed by the CIA (so they could issue their own punishment). ^{(“Blue Code”)}

Also, Root and Shaw get into a CIA black site. Following indications from the Machine, Shaw pretends to be CIA Agent Dearborn who is taking a prisoner (Root) to the holding location. Root is able to talk to Jason Greenfield, Root's person on interest there, and later helps him escape when their transport is attacked by Vigilance members. ^{(“Mors Praematura”)}

National Clandestine Service (NCS)[]

The National Clandestine Service (NCS) is the undercover arm of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the authority on all clandestine operations throughout the world that concerns the nation’s intelligence community.[x]

The CIA’s elite corps of experts is called upon to conduct clandestine missions worldwide. This is accomplished by collecting human intelligence (HUMINT) that is then used by the President, senior policymakers, and the military in strategic decision-making. This supports the CIA’s mission to strengthen national security and foreign policy objectives through the collection of human intelligence and covert action.

How the CIA’s National Clandestine Service was Developed[]

The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) National Clandestine Service (NCS), which was formerly called the Directorate of Operations, was created in October 2005 in response to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. It was discovered, through a 9/11 Commission investigation, that the agency’s human source intelligence (HUMINT) had become severely degraded in the past two decades.

The result of the investigation was the drafting of a bill that called for the creation of the National Clandestine Service (NCS). The newly formed NCS absorbed the CIA’s Directorate of Operations and began serving as the coordinator of HUMINT between the CIA and a number of federal agencies, including (but not limited to):

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Defense Intelligence Agency
Office of Naval Intelligence
Diplomatic Security Service
Marine Corps Intelligence Activity
Air Force ISR Agency
Army Intelligence

Activities and operations within the Directorate of Operations that were taken over by the NCS include:

Counterterrorism and counter-narcotics teams
Nuclear proliferation tracking
Paramilitary operations
Special Operations Group (within the Special Activities Division) – highly skilled in weaponry, guerilla warfare, assassination, sabotage, and escape and evasion techniques

Today’s National Clandestine Service[]

Today, the NCS accomplishes its mission through the service of four, distinct types of officers:

Collection Management Officers

Collection management officers serve as liaisons between operations officers in the field and the U.S. foreign policy community. Their work involves coordinating and overseeing the collection of intelligence and how that intelligence is disseminated. Managing the collection of intelligence means determining the significance of intelligence and what should be communicated to U.S. policymakers.

Staff Operations Officers

Staff operations officers, who work primarily from U.S.-based CIA offices, are tasked with providing the research and case management needed to support their CIA colleagues engaged in overseas operations. These CIA professionals monitor counterintelligence issues and provide the necessary support to foreign contacts, as well.

Operations Officers

Operations officers, also commonly referred to as case officers, deal specifically with the recruitment of sources and the collection of intelligence. Their work requires them to ensure sources are in place and significance and relevant intelligence is captured and disseminated in a timely manner.

Paramilitary Operations Officers

Paramilitary operations officers work within the NCS’s Special Activities Division, which is responsible for raids, ambushes, unconventional warfare, and sabotage. It is common for the CIA’s paramilitary operations officers to be chosen from some of the U.S. military’s most respected groups, including the Naval Special Warfare Development Group and other SEAL teams, the Army special forces, the U.S. Army Rangers, and the United States Marine Corps Special Forces Special Operations battalions.

The Path to a Career in the National Clandestine Service[]

With the exception of specialized positions, such as paramilitary operations officers, the majority of NCS special agents enter the agency through four, specific channels:

Internship Programs
Professional Trainee Program
Clandestine Service Trainee Program
Headquarters-Based Trainee Program

Internship Programs

The NCS offers a number of internship programs designed specifically for undergraduate or graduate students who are interested in supporting the NCS mission. All NCS interns complete their internship at the CIA headquarters in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, and all individuals chosen for the program are afforded competitive salaries and federal benefits.

Internship programs within the CIA include:

Undergraduate Co-Op Program
Undergraduate Internship Program
Undergraduate Scholarship Program
Graduate Scholarship Program
Graduate Studies Program

Professional Trainee Program

The Professional Trainee Program is designed as an entry-level program for individuals seeking a career as a core collector in an overseas mission. Candidates for the professional trainee program must possess a bachelor’s degree. Substantial work experience is not a requirement, as most trainees receive experience through a number of headquarters-based assignments.

Clandestine Service Trainee Program

Upon the successful completion of the professional trainee program, individuals may be chosen for the clandestine service trainee program, which is designed to train and certify individuals to successfully recruit and handle foreign sources who can provide access to vital human intelligence. Upon completion of the clandestine service training program, operations officers and collection management officers are then certified as core collectors and are prepared for field deployment.

Headquarters-Based Trainee Program

The headquarters-based trainee program is an entry-level training program for individuals interested in headquarters-based careers in the NCS. Candidates must possess a bachelor’s degree with a minimum 3.0 GPA and an interest in international affairs (college work and courses in international affairs). Candidates with business and professional work experience are deemed desirable candidates. Individuals who complete this program, which includes field training and interim assignments, are ready for careers as staff operations officers and specialized skills (targeting) officers.

Special Activities Center (SAC)[]

The Latin motto of Special Activities Center (SAC) is Tertia Optio, which means "Third Option," as covert action represents an additional option within the realm of national security when diplomacy and military action are not feasible.

From what is known, CIA special operations consists of the Special Activities Center (formerly known as the Special Activities Division), Global Response Group, Special Collection Service, Armor and Special Programs Branch and we threw in Paramilitary Operations Officers under the Political Action Group as its own section. Within SAC there are two separate groups:

SAC/SOG (Special Operations Group) for tactical paramilitary operations;
SAC/PAG (Political Action Group) for covert political action.

The Political Action Group is responsible for covert activities related to political influence, psychological operations, economic warfare, and cyberwarfare.

Tactical units within SAC can also carry out covert political action while deployed in hostile and austere environments. A large covert operation typically has components that involve many or all of these categories as well as paramilitary operations.

Political and "influence" covert operations are used to support US foreign policy. As overt support for one element of an insurgency can be counterproductive due to the unfavorable impression of the United States in some countries, in such cases covert assistance allows the US to assist without damaging the reputation of its beneficiaries.

The Special Operations Group is responsible for operations that include clandestine or covert operations with which the US government does not want to be overtly associated. The group generally recruits personnel from special mission units within the U.S. Special Operations community.

In popular culture[]

Genres (Book): Non-fiction[]

Annie Jacobsen (Author); Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins. Little, Brown and Company. 2019. ISBN 0316441430. J. R. Seeger, a retired CIA case officer who led the Agency's Team Alpha, the first Americans behind enemy lines after 9/11, reviewed the book, saying: "Jacobsen has a well-deserved reputation as a good writer and an excellent researcher,” but he criticized her attention to detail, and suggested that the book's focus was too general saying that "neither of the topics are discussed in anything resembling the detail required to understand the nuance of covert action".
Bob Drogin(Author); "Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War", 2007. Random House. A number of other accounts of the incredible ineptitude of Central Intelligence Agency(CIA)'s Directorate of Intelligence, National Clandestine Service (NCS), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Secret Intelligence Service(MI6), Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND).[1][2][3]

A Spy for All Seasons: My Life in the CIA is an espionage true account novel from Duane R. Claridge. This book follows Clarridge on his trajectory through the CIA and his alleged involvement in the Iran-contra affair.
A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency is a book by Richard Helms and William Hood.
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change is a book published in 2006 by New York Times foreign correspondent and author Stephen Kinzer about the United States's involvement in the overthrow of foreign governments from the late 19th century to the present. His examples include mini-histories of the U.S.-sponsored or encouraged overthrow in Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and the alleged Central Intelligence Agency backed coups d'état in Nicaragua, Honduras, Iran, Guatemala, South Vietnam, Chile, Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Some examples used in the book refer to American support for local rebels against the existing national governments that lead to a change in power. For example, in 1898, the United States helped overthrow the government of Cuba by supporting local rebels who were already fighting their government. In other circumstances, such as in Iran, Guatemala and Chile, Kinzer argues the United States initiated, planned and orchestrated the regime change.
Age of Secrets: The Conspiracy that Toppled Richard Nixon and the Hidden Death of Howard Hughes is a biography on Howard Hughes personal advisor, and former U.S. Senate Candidate, John H. Meier and written by newspaper reporter Gerald Bellett. The book argues that Meier was one of the people who played a role in affecting President Richard Nixon's resignation in the wake of the Watergate scandal. It also details how Meier was apparently pursued for 20 years by the CIA, the Hughes organization, as well as Nixon sympathizers.
The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence is a 1974 controversial non-fiction political book written by Victor Marchetti, a former special assistant to the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and John D. Marks, a former officer of the United States Department of State. The authors purport to expose how the CIA actually works and how its original purpose had been subverted by its obsession with clandestine operations. It is the first book the federal government of the United States ever went to court to censor before its publication. The CIA demanded the authors remove 399 passages but they resisted and only 168 passages were censored. The publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, chose to publish the book with blanks for censored passages and with boldface type for passages that were challenged but later uncensored. The book was a critically acclaimed bestseller whose publication contributed to the establishment of the Church Committee, a United States Senate select committee to study governmental operations with respect to intelligence activities, in 1975. The book was published in paperback by Dell Publishing in 1975.
Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions since World War II is a history book on covert CIA operations and United States military interventions during the second half of the 20th century. It was written by former State Department employee William Blum. The book takes a strongly critical view of American foreign policy. The book covers various US foreign policy ventures from just after World War II onward. Its basic premise is that the American Cold War-era activities abroad were done with imperialist motives. It is an updated and revised version of one of Blum's previous works, The CIA - A Forgotten History.
See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War Against Terrorism is a 2003 memoir by Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer in the Directorate of Operations. Baer begins with his upbringing in the United States and Europe and continues with a tour of his CIA experiences across the globe. Approximately the first two-thirds of the memoir focus on the various experiences of Baer's two-decade career at the CIA, while the last third depicts the growing cynicism brought on by the corruption and obliviousness encountered in Washington. One of the main focal points of the story is Baer's obsession with uncovering the perpetrators of the unsolved 1983 United States Embassy bombing in Beirut, Lebanon. Baer's memoir describes his own solution of the mystery. The overall theme around which the memoir is built is his view of the CIA losing its prowess due to increasing diplomatic sensitivity in Washington's foreign policies in the aftermath of political fiascoes from active American involvement in foreign politics in the 1970s and 1980s.
All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror is a book written by American journalist Stephen Kinzer. The book discusses the 1953 Iranian coup d'état backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in which Mohammed Mossadegh, Iran's prime minister, was overthrown by Islamists supported by American and British agents and royalists loyal to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Harlot's Ghost, a fictional chronicle of the Central Intelligence Agency by Norman Mailer. The characters are a mixture of real people and fictional figures.
Creating the Secret State: The Origins of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1943-1947 is a book by David F. Rudgers.
The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America is a book by Hugh Wilford.
From the Company of Shadows is a book by Kevin Michael Shipp. Read firsthand accounts of fascinating events inside the CIA and learn how the CIA conducts operations, recruits agents and protects defectors from assassination.
Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs is a book by Richard M. Bissell, Jr.
Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy and Other Misadventures is a book by Lindsay Moran.
Mary's Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision for World Peace is a book by Peter Janney. The book explores the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer and her connection to President Kennedy.
From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War is a book by Robert M. Gates.
Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times is a book by vetran 60 Minutes producer George Crile. The book tells the story of the covert operation by the US to arm the Afghans in their fight against the Soviet Union.
Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life: A Former CIA Officer Reveals Safety and Survival Techniques to Keep You and Your Family Protected is a book by former CIA officer Jason Hanson. The book details techniques from escaping handcuffs to improvising a self-defense weapon and honing "positive awareness" for defense and prevention.
Burn Before Reading: Presidents, CIA Directors, and Secret Intelligence is a book by Stansfield Turner.
The Black Tulip: A Novel of War in Afghanistan is a book by Milton Bearden.
Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA is a book by Jefferson Morley.
The CIA and September 11 is a controversial 2003 non-fiction book by Andreas von Bülow, a former state-secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Defence and an SPD member of the German parliament from 1969 to 1994. The book has enjoyed considerable commercial success in Germany, where it is published by Piper Verlag, and has sold over 100,000 copies. However, it has faced allegations ranging from absurdity and fostering anti-Americanism, to anti-Semitism, while the quality of its sourcing and the timing of its publication have given rise to debate within the German publishing industry. In subsequent media appearances, Bülow has defended his work, and strongly denied that its content is anti-Semitic.
Company Man is a book by lawyer John Rizzo. After serving under eleven CIA directors over his 34-year career, Rizo writes about virtually every significant CIA activity and controversy over a tumultuous, thirty-year period.
The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism is a 2008 non-fiction book by Ron Suskind, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, describing various actions and policies of the George W. Bush administration. Most notably, it alleges that the Bush administration ordered the forgery of the Habbush letter to implicate Iraq as having ties to al Qaeda and the organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The book, published on August 5, 2008, by Harper, met mixed critical reviews but inspired considerable media attention and controversy. Anticipation for the commercial success of the book was high, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that it was the "biggest release" of a crop of late-summer "big titles".
No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State is a book by investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald. This book takes an in-depth look at the NSA scandal that triggered a national debate over national security and information privacy.
Battleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War is a book by David Murphy, George Bailey and Sergei A. Kondrashev.
At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA is a memoir co-written by former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency George Tenet with Bill Harlow, former CIA Director of Public Affairs. The book was released on April 30, 2007 and outlines Tenet's version of 9/11, the War on Terrorism, the 2001 War in Afghanistan, the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war, rough interrogation and other events.
Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath is a book by investigator Ted Koppel. The book covers what would happen in a major cyberattack on America's power grid.
The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal is a novel by David E. Hoffman. Drawing on previously classified CIA documents and on interviews with firsthand participants, it tells the story of Adolf Tolkachev, one of the most valuable spies ever for the US.
Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence is a book by James R. Clapper the former Director of National Intelligence. In this book, Clapper traces his career through the growing threat of cyberattacks, his relationships with Presidents and Congress, and the truth about Russia's role in the presidential election.
The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World is a book by CIA researcher Douglas Valentine. This book covers Valentine's research into the CIA's involvement in drug operations, population surveillance and Vietnam.

Known Members[]

Name	Status	Description
John H., alias John Reese	Defected; Deceased ^{(“return 0”)}	Operative, Kara Stanton's partner
Unknown, alias Kara Stanton	Defected to Decima Technologies; Deceased ^{(“Dead Reckoning”)}	Operative, John Reese's partner
Unknown, alias Mark Snow	Deceased ^{(“Dead Reckoning”)}	Field agent, Tyrell Evans's partner, Kara Stanton and John Reese's handler
Unknown, alias Tyrell Evans	Deceased ^{(“Matsya Nyaya”)}	Operative, Mark Snow's partner
Ray, a.k.a. L.O.S.	Deceased	Agent; In charge of war-funding operation ^{(“Blue Code”)}
Team Leader	Alive	John Reese and Kara Stanton's contact in Ordos ^{(“Matsya Nyaya”)}
Veronica Sinclair	Alive	Michael Cole's contact, Abducted by Root ^{(“Relevance”)}
Dearborn	Unknown	Alias for Sameen Shaw ^{(“Mors Praematura”)}
Nick Breckenridge	Alive	Chief interrogator ^{(“Mors Praematura”)}
Terence Beale	Alive	Supervisory Agent; Head of the Special Activities Division ; Reese's and Stanton's supervisor. ^{(“Truth Be Told”)}