History of CIA Covert Action
CIA began conducting covert action (CA) soon after its creation in 1947, and since then, every President has used CA as an important foreign policy instrument. Over the years, CIA has built a mixed record of success and failure with its covert operations and has often found itself embroiled in political controversy because of them. CA is the only one of the Agency's core missions that involves helping implement foreign policy, and so the operations' prospects for success depend heavily on the soundness of those policies and the resources and authorities given to the Agency. A number of best practices can be drawn from CIA's historical CA programs that if followed can increase the likelihood that future covert operations will achieve their objectives.
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