Truman, who started the CIA, intended no operational role for the CIA. It was only supposed to be an intelligence gathering arm for the president. He wanted the raw data rather than the biased info he was getting from the different departments including defense and the Pentagon. While I think that position is a little naive and gave one department control of the data and the ability to manipulate it how it saw fit, it would be a good thing to see the intelligence arm completed separated from operations.
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