The Central Intelligence Agency was established on the 26th of July 1947 when President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act into law. This legislation dissolved the Central Intelligence Group and created the agency as a civilian foreign intelligence service reporting directly to the president.
The Central Intelligence Agency operates under five major directorates including the Directorate of Analysis, the Directorate of Operations, the Directorate of Science and Technology, the Directorate of Support, and the Directorate of Digital Innovation. The newest addition formally began operations on the 1st of October 2015 after covertly operating since approximately March 2015.
Operation Ajax aimed to overthrow Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh with military support from General Fazlollah Zahedi and oversight by Kermit Roosevelt Jr. A CIA-paid mob led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sparked an initial failed revolution before Roosevelt paid demonstrators to pose as communists and force Mosaddegh to flee.
Congress created the Church Committee to investigate domestic spying activities revealed by The New York Times report on the 14th of December 1974 which stated the agency had collected intelligence files on at least 10,000 Americans engaging in illegal activities beginning in the 1950s. These activities included break-ins wiretapping mail inspections and violating its 1947 charter prohibiting action on American soil.
Between 1985 and 1986 the Central Intelligence Agency lost every spy it maintained in Eastern Europe due to Aldrich Ames selling secrets to the Soviet Union. FBI agents pulled Ames out of his Jaguar on the 21st of February 1994 revealing many sources for important USSR analyses based on Soviet disinformation fed through controlled agents.