1940s
1946
– The Office of Reports and Estimates (ORE)
is created under an interagency Central Intelligence Group
to do intelligence research, produce daily analytic reports,
and write longer-term National Intelligence Estimates
for policymakers.
1947 – President Truman signs
the National Security Act of 1947 creating the CIA.
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1950s
1950 - Director of Central Intelligence
(DCI) Walter Bedell Smith divides ORE into three offices:
the Office of National Estimates, which produces coordinated
“national estimates”; the Office of Research
and Report, which conducts basic research; and the Office
of Current Intelligence, tasked with writing analytic
summaries and other brief products for policymakers.
1952 – DCI Smith establishes
the Directorate of Intelligence to replace ORE and streamline
the production of finished intelligence analysis. President
Truman, an avid reader of the Central Intelligence Bulletin,
directs CIA to brief presidential candidates Eisenhower
and Stevenson, a practice that continues today.
1956 – First U-2 aerial reconnaissance
missions; DI analysts play a key role in developing
realistic estimates of the size of the Soviet bomber
force.
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1960s
1960 – The Director of Intelligence
(DDI) creates a small staff to identify intelligence
problems that could benefit from automated information
processing support. The staff identifies Soviet defense
spending as a key problem and work begins on the Strategic
Cost Analysis Model.
1963 – The 24-hour CIA Operations
Center is established.
1964 – President Johnson wants
his intelligence product at the close of each business
day—this becomes the President’s Daily Brief.
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1970s
1973 - The National Intelligence Officer
system is initiated under the National Intelligence
Council (NIC) to provide experts to advise and coordinate
between agencies on key issues.
1976 – In response to criticism
about Intelligence Community analysis on future Soviet
military strength, DCI George Bush approves a Team A/Team
B competitive analysis exercise as part of the National
Intelligence Estimate, “Soviet Forces for Intercontinental
Conflict Through the Mid-1980s.”
1977 – The DI is reorganized
and renamed the National Foreign Assessment Center (NFAC),
which includes a Center for Policy Support and the Offices
of Regional and Political Analysis, Scientific Intelligence,
and Weapons Intelligence.
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1980s
1980 – The Arms Control and Intelligence
Staff is established in NFAC for intelligence support
on arms control issues.
1981 – NFAC creates the Technology
Transfer Assessment Center to do analytic and intelligence
support on international technology transfer issues.
Later the same year, NFAC is again reorganized and renamed
the DI; most functional offices are restructured into
interdisciplinary regional offices.
1986 – The Counterterrorism
Center is established under the Directorate of Operations
to help combat international terrorist threats. DI officers
serve in its analytic components to provide regional
and functional expertise—the first permanent unit
combining analysis and operations.
1988 – The Counterintelligence
Center is established; like the Counterterrorism Center,
it includes DI officers who provide analytic support.
1989 – The DCI Counternarcotics
Center is established to bring together officers from
across CIA, the Intelligence Community, law enforcement,
and policy agencies.
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1990s
1992 – The DCI Nonproliferation
Center is established to strengthen DI interaction with
the policy community on the proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction.
1997 – The DI’s five
regional analytic offices are reconfigured into three.
The DCI Nonproliferation Center adds additional analytic
components and establishes a Senior Scientist position,
thereby creating the largest concentration of proliferation
experts in the Intelligence Community.
1998 – The Jeremiah Commission
reviews the Intelligence Community’s performance
on India and its unannounced nuclear test; the Commission
offers recommendations to enhance the Community’s
analytic warning capabilities. The DI’s Office
of Policy Support is established to improve the quality
of DI support to the policy community.
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2000s
2001 – The DCI Center for Weapons
Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control is
established, bringing together experts on all types
of foreign weapons threats into one center. After the
11 September terrorist attacks, the existing analytic
component in the Counterterrorism Center is significantly
expanded and renamed the Office of Terrorism Analysis.
2002 – The DI celebrates its
50th anniversary.
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