More About Intelligence Agencies (CIA/DNI) Spying Central
Intelligence Agency. Because of the excessive secrecy
surrounding CIA operations, little is known about its domestic
activities. In its 1947 charter, the CIA was prohibited from
spying against Americans, in part because President Truman was
afraid that the agency would engage in political abuse. But the
law didn't stop the CIA from spying on Americans. During the
1960s, in clear violation of its statutory mission to co-
ordinate foreign intelligence operations only, the CIA ventured
into the domestic spying business through "Operation Chaos," in
which it spied on as many as 7,000 Americans involved in the
peace movement. Unfortunately, the exposure of intelligence
failings before the 9/11 attacks caused policy makers to promote
"information sharing" among intelligence and law enforcement
agencies as a cure-all, creating the likelihood that the CIA
would increasingly operate domestically. Today we know that the
CIA is a participant in FBI Joint Terrorism