CIA stands for the "Central Intelligence Agency," which is a civilian agency of the government of the United States that coordinates gathering intelligence on foreign governments and organizations.
How It's Used
“There have been frequent reports of tension between the Defense Department and the C.I.A., particularly on the question of the links between Saddam [Hussein] and Al Qaeda.”
—Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Unknown: The C.I.A. and the Pentagon take another look at Al Qaeda and Iraq,” The New Yorker, 10 Feb 03, p. 43.
"The WP fronts word that CIA officials wanted to move forward with the secret plans to create assassination teams when they brought the agency's director, Leon Panetta, up to speed on the program last month. There were proposals to move the program into a "somewhat more operational phase," as one intelligence official put it. But Panetta canceled the program and informed lawmakers."
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