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Profiles

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian intelligence organization tasked with foreign intelligence in service of the federal government of the United States. The CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

History

In 1977, the Washington Post reported that senior officials at the National Institute of Mental Health were likely aware that the CIA funneled money to the institute to administer LSD and other drugs to federal prisoners in Lexington, Kentucky as a part of the MKULTRA program.[1]

On September 29, 1999, the CIA announced the launch of its new venture capital firm, In-Q-Tel.[2]

COVID-19

On January 25, 2025, the CIA issued a statement that the agency "assesses with low confidence that a research-related origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin based on the available body of reporting."[3]

Personnel

Names Position Notes
Nick Bostrom Expert consultant[4] Future of Humanity Institute, Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), Yale University, European Commission
William J. Burns Director (2021-present) -
David Cohen Acting Director (2021) -
William Colby Director (1973-1976) -
Allen Dulles Director (1953-1961) -
Avril Haines Deputy Director (former)[5] Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)
Gina Haspel Director (2018-2021) -
A. B. Krongard Counselor to the Director (2000-2001), Executive Director (2001-2004)[6] Apollo Global Management, Alex. Brown & Sons, Blackwater
Cindy Otis Military Analyst (2007-2017)[7] Alethea Group, Digital Forensic Research Lab (DRFLab), Argonne National Laboratory
Meroe Park Acting Director (2017) -
Mike Pompeo Director (2017-2018) -
James Woolsey Director (1993-1995) Arlington Institute

Further reading


  1. Richards, B., & Jacobs, J. (1977, August 19). CIA Funded 1956 Research For Hypertension Remedy. Washington Post. http://archive.today/2020.06.15-222517/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/08/19/cia-funded-1956-research-for-hypertension-remedy/36352b62-d84a-4cbc-89fb-a72abd383aae/ ↩︎

  2. Yannuzzi, R. E. In-Q-Tel: A New Partnership Between the CIA and the Private Sector. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved August 16, 2000, from https://web.archive.org/web/20000816205529/http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/inqtel/ ↩︎

  3. Diamond, D., & Strobel, W. P. (2025, January 25). CIA now favors lab-leak theory, as critics of covid response take power. Washington Post. http://archive.vn/2025.01.26-142103/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/01/25/cia-covid-origins-fauci-republicans-lab-leak/ ↩︎

  4. Advisors. Singularity Institute. Retrieved February 11, 2010, from https://web.archive.org/web/20100211210711/http://singinst.org/aboutus/advisors ↩︎

  5. Avril Haines. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220308234931/https://www.dni.gov/index.php/who-we-are/leadership/director-of-national-intelligence ↩︎

  6. Alvin B. Krongard. Icahn Enterprises. Retrieved August 7, 2024, from https://web.archive.org/web/20240807172719/https://www.ielp.com/board-directors/alvin-b-krongard ↩︎

  7. Cindy Otis Bio. (2020, October 15). United States Congress. https://web.archive.org/web/20240524221023/https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/111087/witnesses/HHRG-116-IG00-Bio-OtisC-20201015.pdf ↩︎