US Intelligence

US Intelligence

Introduction

There is a general tendency to identify the intelligence work of the spies, conspiracies and covert action. This situation is largely generated by factors such as the great development of spy novels, fueled by the blockbuster of such scripts and, in part, justified by the intelligence failures throughout history. So, nothing better than trying to explain scientifically rigorous structure and one of the largest world's intelligence communities, such as the U.S. for researchers, academics and the general public get an idea of ??the true operation of an essential part of any government: the intelligence structures that comprise the intelligence community (IC).

Cuban Missile Crisis

Background

In May 1962, Nikita Khruschev, the First Secretary of the Soviet communist Party, secured agreement from the Soviet Presidium to place nuclear-equipped medium range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) in Cuba. His goal was to counter what he believed to be U.S. nuclear superiority and to protect his ally Fidel Castro from U.S. attempts to remove him from power. The Soviets code-named the operation Anadyr, after the river in far-northeast Siberia. The plan called for a large combined-arms force of motorized infantry, tanks, tactical aircraft, surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), coastal defense vessels, light bombers, and five missile regiments composed of SS-4 Sandal MRBMs and SS-5 Skean intermediate range ballistic missiles (iRBMs).

By the end of August, most of this force was in place. MRBMs and iRBMs began arriving on 15 September, and Soviet engineers in Cuba began hastily assembling the missile sites. Owing to the presence of SA-2 SAMs, the United States halted U-2 reconnaissance flights over Cuba between September and early October. As evidence of a major Soviet deployment increased, however, the Kennedy administration relented and allowed a single flight on 14 October, which discovered the presence of the strategic missiles. Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine of Cuba, and for 13 days the world sat on the brink of nuclear war. Finally, after a series of back-channel negotiations, Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missiles and remove them from Cuba. In exchange, the United States secretly agreed that it would not move to depose Castro and would remove its nuclear-equipped Jupiter missiles from Turkey.

The DIA Effort

DiA was not yet even a year old when the Soviets began deploying missiles to Cuba, and its intelligence production capabilities were limited to current intelligence, warning, and estimates. Nonetheless, the agency was quick to recognize the seriousness of the buildup. On 3 October, almost 2 weeks before the United States discovered the Soviet strategic missiles, Lt Gen Joseph Carroll, DiA's director, set up a special Cuban Situation Room to monitor events around the clock.

The room was staffed by analysts from current intelligence and estimates functions. Using photographs taken by high- and low-altitude reconnaissance missions, as well as HUMinT reports from debriefings of Cuban refugees, analysts working in the Cuban Situation Room produced daily, and occasionally twice-daily, current intelligence updates on the crisis.

DiA intelligence Summary 249-62, published on 23 October 1962, was produced by these ...