Changes in the US intelligence over 100 years Essay

Changes in the US intelligence over 100 years - Essay Example The United States Congress has been very instrumental in reorganizing this body during the times of crisis. It is these crises that have formed the basis for the reorganization of the intelligence community. The scandals and the critics faced by the organ since it was formed is also highlighted in this context Post War era President Truman in collaboration with the Congress did find out that the United States could not meet their security needs without a defined structure for decision making. They had to find a way to deal with intelligence issues in the country. On this note, the president, in 1947 , did sign the â€Å"National Security Act†, which was a part of legislation on the intelligence community. The present day intelligence structure was formed from this simple structure. The USA had the mechanism to do so. Its public also supported this move and it was further boosted by allies who saw to it that America was helped to achieve its goals. USA in the first place took t heir satellites into the space to help them watch vast areas of the world. The other initiative was the use of spy planes1. They moved into their air space to ensure that their territory was not invaded. Many posts were placed strategically all over the world. The intelligence team then listened to the messages relayed on these stations. The country took the responsibility of training and developing manpower for example: analysts, 2technicians, program managers. Much work was done to train these people on foreign languages. USA invested more in the area and space studies which would come to help them develop the intelligence community in years to come. Post Cold War era It saw the endless efforts to make DCI to be the hub of intelligence community. The media undermined their efforts with series of disclosures on their cases. In the better part of the decade, the community underwent many changes. They came up with new reforms and their oversight also changed. For example, President N ixon (1970) gave the directive to find out how the structure of the body should be changed to ensure efficiency in information collection. Several commissions were formed to help inquire about the best ways to ensure efficiency. Among them were the Rockefeller commission, the church commission, the pike committee and the Murphy commission. These commissions would form the basis of this body. In 1975, implementation of Rockefeller commission was ordered by President Ford. Out of the 30 recommendations, 20 of them had to be implemented. The commission had recommended increased supervision of the CIA activities. Its restrictions on the domestic activities were toughened. They were provided with a prohibition on the mail openings and wire taps were removed. The community had been accused of abusing tax information. They were therefore banned from this act. The most outrageous was using drugs on people without their knowledge. The president made it possible to describe the structure of t he IC in the public and their responsibilities and well defined in the presidential document which was always made public. This order also set up a committee known as the Foreign Intelligence and was to be part of the â€Å"National Security Council†. The DCI chaired the council. He was to report to the president directly, concerning resource allocation on the intelligence activities. Many restrictions were made. An example of such is barring the intelligence from using assassinations that were part of the