The CIA and FBI what they really are

 By Wamakale David William

Introduction

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are the two leading intelligence agencies of the government of the United States with a wide range of tasks. The former is mainly focused on gathering intelligence abroad whereas the latter in mainly operating domestically with little overseas presence

BACKGROUND

CIA

The Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA; /ˌsiː.aɪˈeɪ/ ), known informally as the Agency and the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT). As a principal member of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet of the United States .

The Central Intelligence Agency was created on July 26, 1947 (74 years ago), when Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act into law. A major impetus for the creation of the agency was growing tensions with the USSR following the end of World War II

FBI

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency . Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice , the FBI is also a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence. A leading U.S. counter-terrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal investigative organization, the FBI has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes

The FBI was formed on 26 July 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation, the BOI or BI for short. In 1896 the National Bureau of Criminal of Criminal Identification was founded with the major aim of providing intelligence to agencies across the country and information to identify known criminals. The 1901 assassination of President William McKinley created a perception that the US was under threat from anarchists and 7 years later the BOI was formed after US Attorney General Charles Bonaparte hired 34 people including some veterans of the Secret Service, using Dept. of Justice expense funds to work for a new investigative agency. 

In 1932, the bureau was renamed the United States Bureau of Investigation. The following year in 1933, the BOI was linked to the Bureau of Prohibition and rechristened the Division of Investigation. The bureau became an independent service within the Department of Justice in 1935. In the same year, its name was officially changed from Division of Investigation to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

SCOPE OF WORK

CIA

Unlike the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is a domestic security service, the CIA has no law enforcement function and is officially mainly focused on overseas intelligence gathering, with only limited domestic intelligence collection

The CIA does and can carry out  limited domestic secret activity just as the FB has a limited overseas function. The CIA over the years has been engaging in serious political situations around the world and serious regime changes have been either planned or aided by the CIA or the two: this has helped maintaining the Agency as a major international intelligence operative. The CIA was for example directly involved, financed, trained the fighters, provided intelligence or supervised operations or all the above in the following coups and assassination; 1953 Iranian Coup d'état, 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, 1949 Syrian coup

Democratic Republic of the Congo

In the election of Patrice Lumumba as Prime minister, and his acceptance of Soviet support during the Congo Crisis, the CIA saw another possible Cuba. This view swayed the White House. Eisenhower ordered that Lumumba be "eliminated." In September 1960, President Joseph Kasa-Vubu ordered the dismissal of Lumumba and his cabinet. The CIA delivered a quarter of a million dollars to Joseph Mobutu in October, their favored Congolese political figure. Lumumba was imprisoned by Mobutu in December and then handed over to Katangan authorities who, with the aid of Belgium, executed him by firing squad in January 1961.

FBI

Unlike the CIA which has no law enforcement authority and is focused on intelligence gathering abroad, the FBI is primarily a domestic agency, maintaining 56 offices in major cities throughout the United States 

The FBI can and does at times carry out secret activities overseas, just as the CIA has a limited domestic function

As mainly a domestic agency, the FBI can at times work overtly abroad at the behest of the hosting government. An example can be traced back to July 2021 (1 month ago) after the assassination of the President of Haiti, Jovenile Moise where the prime minister requested the FBI to "come and aide in the investigation into the assassination" so as to bring the criminals to justice

PRIORITIES

CIA

According to its fiscal 2013 budget, the CIA has five priorities:

Counterterrorism, the top priority

Nonproliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.

Warning/informing American leaders of important overseas events.

Counterintelligence

Cyber intelligence.

FBI

Currently, the FBI's top priorities are:

Protect the United States from terrorist attacks

Protect the United States against foreign intelligence operations, espionage, and cyber operations

Combat significant cyber criminal activity

Combat public corruption at all levels

Protect civil rights

Combat transnational criminal enterprises

Combat major white-collar crime

Combat significant violent crime

EMPLOYEES 

CIA

21,575

FBI

35,000

BUDGET

CIA

The United States government has disclosed a total figure for all non-military intelligence spending since 2007; the fiscal 2013 figure is $52.6 billion. According to the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures, the CIA's fiscal 2013 budget is $14.7 billion, 28% of the total and almost 50% more than the budget of the National Security Agency.

FBI

In the fiscal year 2019, the Bureau's total budget was approximately $9.6 billion. 

In the Authorization and Budget Request to Congress for fiscal year 2021, the FBI asked for $9,800,724,000. Of that money, $9,748,829,000 would be used for Salaries and Expenses and $51,895,000 for Construction. The S&E program saw an increase of $199,673,000.

In conclusion, the CIA and the FBI are two different intelligence agencies of the government of the United States with the most stark difference being; The CIA operates outside the US while the FBI operates in the US mainland.