National Intelligence Authority (original) (raw)

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Former American intelligence agency (1946–47)

The National Intelligence Authority (NIA) was the United States Government authority responsible for monitoring the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), the successor intelligence agency of the Office of Strategic Services established by President Harry S. Truman's presidential directive of 22 January 1946[1] in the aftermath of World War II. The National Intelligence Authority and Central Intelligence Group were both replaced respectively by the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency under the National Security Act of 1947, which was implemented on 18 September 1947.[2]

Despite opposition from the military establishment, the United States Department of State, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), President Truman established the National Intelligence Authority[3] on 22 January 1946.[4] The National Intelligence Authority and its operational extension, the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), was disestablished after twenty months.[5] The disestablishment of the NIA and CIG came with the National Security Act of 1947, which established the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council.[6][7]

The NIA was composed of the Secretary of State, Secretary of War, Secretary of the Navy, and a personal representative of President Truman.[8][9] The board oversaw the activities of the CIG, which was headed by the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI),[9] who was a nonvoting member of the NIA.[8] The first DCI was Sidney Souers.

  1. ^ Harry Truman (22 January 1946). "Presidential Directive on Coordination of Foreign Intelligence Activities". Office of the Historian.
  2. ^ [1] Central Intelligence Agency The Creation of the Intelligence Community: Founding Documents
  3. ^ "The Role of Intelligence" (1965). Congress and the Nation 1945–1964: a review of government and politics in the postwar years. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Service. p. 306.
  4. ^ Warner, Michael. "The Creation of the Central Intelligence Group" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 26, 2010. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  5. ^ "CIA - History". Federation for American Scientists.
  6. ^ Warner, Michael (2001). "Central Intelligence: Origin and Evolution". Center for the Study of Intelligence Central Intelligence Agency.
  7. ^ Leary, William (1984). The Central Intelligence Agency. The University of Alabama Press.
  8. ^ a b Immerman, Richard (January 2008). "Intelligence and Strategy: Historicizing Psychology, Policy, and Politics". Diplomatic History. 32: 7. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.2007.00675.x.
  9. ^ a b Prados, John (2006). Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA. Ivan R. Dee. p. 34. ISBN 9781615780112.