CIA

Spies, and spooks, and covert operations, oh my! Discreetly located in the Langley neighborhood of McLean, in suburban Northern Virginia, the Central Intelligence Headquarters is a massive, well-guarded compound housing approximately 17,500 employees (an estimate, as the actual number, and the agency’s budget, are classified.) Foreign intelligence has been important to the United States since the days of George Washington, but it’s only been since World War II that such efforts have been coordinated on a government-wide level. The CIA is charged with coordinating the nation’s intelligence activities and correlating, evaluating, and disseminating intelligence that affects national security. The CIA is responsible for collecting (sometimes covertly), evaluating, and disseminating foreign intelligence to the President and U.S. government agencies. There is no public access to CIA headquarters.