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Intelligence After World War II Term Paper

" It was also a pivotal tool in discovering the Russian nuclear missile sites that sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The U.S. also gained spy satellites in 1960, and combined with the U-2 and other tools, American technological superiority began to assert itself. The spy satellites were a direct result of rocketry experimentation during and after World War II, and many German rocket scientists transplanted to America helped create the rockets that would launch the satellites. The scope of the intelligence operations was growing, and so were the technological advances that helped the agencies grow and learn more every day.

There are many who believe that factors such as the Cold War may help develop new agencies, but they have little to do with how the agencies evolve. Author Zegat continues, "The truth is that international factors such as the onset of the Cold War may catalyze the development of new agencies, but they hardly determine the final shape those agencies take. Nor do they ensure the agencies' responsiveness over time."

This seems especially true with some of the agencies that make up U.S. intelligence operations. The CIA, FBI, and the NCS have grown increasingly in scope from Cold War days, and have some of the best intelligence around the world.

President Truman saw the agencies working together to gain common knowledge, but from the beginning they evolved as very separate organizations. In fact, as the Cold War developed, the CIA and NSA began to see each other as enemies. Author Bamford notes, "During the 1960s, NSA's inability to break high-level Soviet codes was becoming its biggest secret. CIA director John McCone became so concerned that in 1964 he asked Richard Bissell to look into the problem. Bissell was one of the CIA's keenest scientific minds."

Each organization was becoming more autonomous to hold on to its own power and authority, and they all transformed themselves throughout their Cold War history.

In conclusion, the Cold War created an era of fear around the world. Nuclear weapons were available to the U.S. And later the Soviet Union, and it was clear Communist nations such as North Korea desired...

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This lead to the need for a more accurate intelligence force in the United States. Technological advances, us as the U.S. spy plane, global satellites, and other intelligence gear enabled the United States to become one of the premier intelligence gathering nations in the world. This emergence of technologies and superiority helped lead U.S. intelligence agencies to greater and greater power, which does not seem to be the reason President Truman created them. Support from the current administration helps keep their intelligence gathering techniques controversial and perhaps even unconstitutional. IN effect, the power of the intelligence agencies today is owed at least in part to the Cold War, which created the aura of fear that created the agencies and gave them power in the first place.
References

Andres, Christopher. For the President's Eyes Only. (New York: HarperPerennial), 1996.

Bamford, James. Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency from the Cold War Through the Dawn of a New Century. New York: Doubleday, 2001.

Painter, David S. The Cold War: An International History. London: Routledge, 1999.

Powers, Thomas. Intelligence Wars: American Secret History from Hitler to al-Qaeda. New York: New York Review Books, 2002.

Zegart, Amy B. Flawed by Design: The Evolution of the CIA, JCS, and NSC. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999.

David S. Painter, The Cold War: An International History. (London: Routledge, 1999), 19.

James Bamford. Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency from the Cold War Through the Dawn of a New Century. New York: Doubleday, 2001.

Amy B. Zegart, Flawed by Design: The Evolution of the CIA, JCS, and NSC (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press), 1999, 163.

Christopher Andres. For the President's Eyes Only. (New York: HarperPerennial), 1996, 182.

Thomas Powers. Intelligence Wars: American Secret History from Hitler to al-Qaeda. (New York: New York Review Books, 2002).

Painter, 42.

Powers, 46.

Zegart, 5.

Bamford, 358.

Sources used in this document:
References

Andres, Christopher. For the President's Eyes Only. (New York: HarperPerennial), 1996.

Bamford, James. Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency from the Cold War Through the Dawn of a New Century. New York: Doubleday, 2001.

Painter, David S. The Cold War: An International History. London: Routledge, 1999.

Powers, Thomas. Intelligence Wars: American Secret History from Hitler to al-Qaeda. New York: New York Review Books, 2002.
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