The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created in 1947, in the early Cold War years, as the United States moved from wartime to peacetime intelligence.

More precisely, there are two key dates people mean when they ask “when was the CIA founded”:

  • The CIA was established in law when President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 on July 26, 1947.
  • The CIA became operational as an agency on September 18, 1947, the effective date of that Act and the point at which the CIA formally came into existence within the U.S. government structure.

So if you need one founding date, September 18, 1947 is usually cited as the CIA’s official start, with July 26, 1947 as the date it was created by law.

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