:: wikimiki.org ::

Administrative Agency

Administrative agency

Federal independent agencies were established through separate statutes passed by Congress. Each respective statutory grant of authority defines the goals the agency must work towards, as well as what substantive areas, if any, it may have the power of rulemaking over. These agency rules (or regulations), while in force, have the power of federal law in the United States. The executive departments are the major operating units of the U.S. federal government, but many other agencies have important responsibilities for serving the public interest and carrying out government operations. They are often called independent agencies not because they are a fourth branch of government but because they are not part of the executive departments. That is, most independent agencies are nominally part of the executive branch of the Federal government. A few independent agencies are part of the legislative branch (under Congress) such as the Government Accountability Office (formerly called the General Accounting Office), the Library of Congress, and the Government Printing Office. The nature and purpose of independent agencies vary widely. Some are regulatory groups with powers to supervise certain sectors of the economy. Others provide special services either to the government or to the people. In most cases, the agencies have been created by Congress to deal with matters that have become too complex for the scope of ordinary legislation. In 1970, for example, Congress established the Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate governmental action to protect the environment. The Administrative Procedure Act establishes the protocols for agency rulemaking and decisions in agency enforcement proceedings. The APA also provides for direct judicial review of agency action in the D.C. Circuit Court (and then on appeal to the Supreme Court), once all intra-agency procedures been exhausted. The D.C. Circuit can uphold the regulation as a valid exercise of statutory authority by the agency, or it can remand back to the agency for further consideration and information gathering. Decisions and rules must be sufficiently justified by the agency to withstand judicial review. If there is no established factual or rational basis for the agency's actions, the court will not infer or assume one.

Well known examples

Note: This does not list ALL such agencies.
- The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) coordinates the intelligence activities of certain government departments and agencies; collects, correlates, and evaluates intelligence information relating to national security; and makes recommendations to the National Security Council within the Office of the President.
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates commodity futures and option markets in the United States. The agency protects market participants against manipulation, abusive trade practices and fraud. Through effective oversight and regulation, the CFTC enables the markets to serve better their important functions in the nation's economy providing a mechanism for price discovery and a means of offsetting price risk.
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) works with state and local governments throughout the United States to control and abate pollution in the air and water and to deal with problems related to solid waste, pesticides, radiation, and toxic substances. EPA sets and enforces standards for air and water quality, evaluates the impact of pesticides and chemical substances, and manages the "Superfund" program for cleaning toxic waste sites.
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. It licenses radio and television broadcast stations, assigns radio frequencies, and enforces regulations designed to ensure that cable rates are reasonable. The FCC regulates common carriers, such as telephone and telegraph companies, as well as wireless telecommunications service providers.
- The Federal Reserve Board (Fed board) is the governing body of the Federal Reserve System, the central bank of the United States. It conducts the nation's monetary policy by influencing the volume of credit and money in circulation. The Federal Reserve regulates private banking institutions, works to contain systemic risk in financial markets, and provides certain financial services to the U.S. government, the public, and financial institutions.
- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces federal antitrust and consumer protection laws by investigating complaints against individual companies initiated by consumers, businesses, congressional inquiries, or reports in the media. The commission seeks to ensure that the nation's markets function competitively by eliminating unfair or deceptive practices.
- The General Services Administration (GSA) is responsible for the purchase, supply, operation, and maintenance of federal property, buildings, and equipment, and for the sale of surplus items. GSA also manages the federal motor vehicle fleet and oversees telecommuting centers and child care centers.
- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established in 1958 to run the U.S. space program. It placed the first American satellites and astronauts in orbit, and it launched the Apollo spacecraft that landed men on the moon in 1969. Today, NASA conducts research aboard earth-orbiting satellites and interplanetary probes, explores new concepts in advanced aerospace technology, and operates the U.S. fleet of manned space shuttle orbiters.
- The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) preserves the nation's history by overseeing the management of all federal records. The holdings of the National Archives include original textual materials, motion picture films, sound and video recordings, maps, still pictures, and computer data. The Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are preserved and displayed at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C.
- The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administers the principal U.S. labor law, the National Labor Relations Act. The board is vested with the power to prevent or remedy unfair labor practices and to safeguard employees' rights to organize and determine through elections whether to have a union as their bargaining representative.
- The National Science Foundation (NSF) supports basic research and education in science and engineering in the United States through grants, contracts, and other agreements awarded to universities, colleges, and nonprofit and small business institutions. The NSF encourages cooperation among universities, industry, and government, and it promotes international cooperation through science and engineering.
- The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the federal government's human resources agency. It ensures that the nation's civil service remains free of political influence and that federal employees are selected and treated fairly and on the basis of merit. OPM supports agencies with personnel services and policy leadership, and it manages the federal retirement system and health insurance program.
- The Peace Corps, founded in 1961, trains and places volunteers to serve in foreign countries for two years. Peace Corps volunteers, now working in some 80 nations, assist in agricultural-rural development, small business, health, natural resources conservation, and education.
- The Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 to advise, assist, and protect the interests of small business concerns. The SBA guarantees loans to small businesses, aids victims of floods and other natural disasters, promotes the growth of minority-owned firms, and helps secure contracts for small businesses to supply goods and services to the federal government.
- The Social Security Administration (SSA) manages the nation's social insurance program, consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors benefits. To qualify for these benefits, most American workers pay Social Security taxes on their earnings; future benefits are based on the employees' contributions.
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was established to protect investors who buy stocks and bonds. Federal laws require companies that plan to raise money by selling their own securities to file reports about their operations with the SEC, so that investors have access to all material information. The commission has powers to prevent or punish fraud in the sale of securities and is authorized to regulate stock exchanges.
- The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) administers U.S. foreign economic and humanitarian assistance programs in the developing world, as well as in Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union. The agency supports programs in four areas — population and health, broad-based economic growth, environment, and democracy.
- The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches of government, determines the impact of imports on U.S. industries, and directs actions against certain unfair trade practices, such as patent, trademark, and copyright infringement.
- The United States Postal Service is operated by an autonomous public corporation that replaced the Post Office Department in 1971. The Postal Service is responsible for the collection, transportation, and delivery of the mails, and for the operation of thousands of local post offices across the country. It also provides international mail service through the Universal Postal Union and other agreements with foreign countries. An independent Postal Rate Commission, also created in 1971, sets the rates for different classes of mail.

Former agencies

- The Interstate Commerce Commission regulated common carriers and was thus able to render far reaching orders, such as the desegregation of public transportation. It was deregulated and eventually replaced.
- The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was designed to help finance projects during the Great Depression. It later helped finance the nation's military buildup as World War II approached. Scandals led to its eventual dissolution in 1956.

External links

- [http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/independent-agencies.html List of independent agencies from whitehouse.gov]
- [http://www.regulations.gov regulations.gov]

Statute

] A statute is a formal, written law of a country or state, written and enacted by its legislative authority, perhaps to then be ratified by the highest executive in the government, and finally published. Typically, statutes command, prohibit, or declare something. Statutes are sometimes referred to as legislation or "black letter law." In many countries, published statutes are organized in topical arrangements called codes, such as the Civil Code of Quebec or the United States Code. The term statute is sometimes also used to refer to an international treaty that establishes an institution, such as the Statute of the European Central Bank (a protocol to the Treaty of Maastricht). This includes international courts as well, such as the Statute of the International Court of Justice and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
-

Administrative law

Administrative law is the body of law that arises from the activities of administrative agencies of government. Government agency action can include rulemaking, adjudication, or the enforcement of a specific regulatory agenda. Administrative law is considered a branch of public law. As a body of law, administrative law deals with the decision-making of administrative units of government (e.g., tribunals, boards or commissions) that are part of a state regulatory scheme in such areas as international trade, manufacturing, the environment, taxation, broadcasting, immigration and transport. Administrative law expanded greatly during the twentieth century, as legislative bodies world-wide created more government agencies to regulate the increasingly complex social, economic and political spheres of human interaction.

Administrative law in common law countries

Generally speaking, most countries that follow the principles of common law have developed procedures for judicial review that limit the reviewability of decisions made by administrative law bodies. Often these procedures are coupled with legislation or other common law doctrines that establish standards for proper rulemaking. Administrative law may also apply to review of decisions of so-called quasi-public bodies, such as non-profit corporations, disciplinary boards, and other decision-making bodies that effect the legal rights of members of a particular group or entity. While administrative decision-making bodies are often controlled by larger governmental units, their decisions could be reviewed by a court of general jurisdiction under some principle of judicial review based upon due process (United States) or fundamental justice (Canada). Judicial review of administrative decision, it must be noted, is different from an appeal. When sitting in review of a decision, the Court will only look at the method in which the decision was arrived at, whereas in appeal the correctness of the decision itself will be under question. This difference is vital in appreciating administrative law in common law countries. The scope of judicial review may be limited to certain questions of fairness, or whether the administrative action is ultra vires. In terms of ultra vires actions in the broad sense, a reviewing court may set aside an administrative decision if it is patently unreasonable (under Canadian law), Wednesbury unreasonable (under British law), or arbitrary and capricious under (U.S. Administrative Procedure Act and New York State law). Administrative law, as laid down by the Supreme Court in India, has also recognized two more grounds of judicial review which were recognized but not applied by English Courts viz. legitimate expectation and proportionality. The powers to review administrative decisions are usually established by statute, but were originally developed from the royal prerogative writs of English law, such as the writ of mandamus and the writ of certiorari. In certain Common Law jurisdictions, such as India or Pakistan, the power to pass such writs is a Constitutionally guaranteed power. This power is seen as fundamental to the power of judicial review and an aspect of the independent judiciary.

Administrative law in the United States

Main Article: American administrative law American administrative law In the United States legal system, many government agencies are organized under the executive branch of government, rather than the judicial or legislative branches. The departments under the control of the executive branch, and their sub-units, are often referred to as executive agencies. The so-called executive agencies can be distinguished from the many important and powerful independent agencies, that are created by statutes enacted by the U.S. Congress. Congress has also created Article I judicial tribunals to handle some areas of administrative law. The actions of executive agencies independent agencies are the main focus of American administrative law. In response to the rapid creation of new independent agencies in the early twentieth century (see discussion below), Congress enacted the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in 1946. Many of the independent agencies operate as miniature versions of the tripartite federal government, with the authority to "legislate" (through rulemaking), "adjudicate" (through administrative hearings), and to "execute" administrative goals (through agency enforcement personnel). Because the United States Constitution sets no limits on this tripartite authority of administrative agencies, Congress enacted the APA to establish fair administrative law procedures to comply with the requirements of Constitutional due process. The dominant U.S. Supreme Court case in the field of American administrative law is Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, .

Historical development

In his book, Administrative Law & Regulatory Policy (3d Ed., 1992) (Admin. Law & Reg. Policy ), U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer divides the history of administrative law in the United States into six discrete periods:
- English antecedents & the American experience to 1875
- 1875 - 1930: the rise of regulation & the traditional model of administrative law
- The New Deal
- 1945 - 1965: the Administrative Procedure Act & the maturation of the traditional model of administrative law
- 1965 - 1985: critique and transformation of the administrative process
- 1985 - ?: retreat or consolidation

Administrative law in civil law countries

France

In France, most claims against the national or local governments are handled by administrative courts, which use the Conseil d'État as a court of last resort.

Germany

In Germany, the highest administrative court for most matters is the federal administrative court Bundesverwaltungsgericht. There are federal courts with special judisdiction in the fields of social security law (Bundessozialgericht) and tax law (Bundesfinanzhof). Category:Administrative law ko:행정법 ja:行政法

Executive Branch

Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the executive is the branch of a government charged with implementing, or executing, the law and running the day-to-day affairs of the government or state. The de facto most senior figure in an executive is referred to as the head of government. The executive may be referred to as the administration, in presidential systems, or simply as the government, in parliamentary systems. In some constitutional monarchies, such as the United Kingdom, the monarch, who is the Head of State, is the de jure and theoretical head of the executive, and the Prime Minister, who he or she technically appoints, is the head of the monarch's government (i.e. "Her Majesty's Government"). In practice, however, a symbolic or figurehead Head of State does not actively exercise executive power, though decisions may be formally made in his or her name. Along with the Prime Minister or executive President, the executive branch consists of the cabinet and the executive departments or ministries of the government.

Executives under different systems

Executive authority within a presidential system is exercised by a president who is also head of state. The president will not usually be designated by the legislature, and may instead be elected directly, or in the case of the President of the United States, indirectly, by an electoral college. Under presidential systems the legislature and the executive are formally distinct, and it is usually expressly forbidden for the president and other executive officers to be members of the legislature. In parliamentary systems, the executive branch is generally comprised of a prime minister and a cabinet, who must directly or indirectly secure the support of the legislature. In a semi-presidential system (such as France, for example) executive powers are shared between the president and a prime minister.

Role of the executive

It is usually the role of the executive to:
- Enforce the law. To achieve this the executive administers the prisons and the police force, and prosecutes criminals in the name of the state.
- Conduct the foreign relations of the state.
- Command the armed forces.
- Appoint state officials, including judges and diplomats.
- Administer government departments and public services.
- Issue executive orders (also known as secondary legislation, ordinances, edicts or decrees). Most constitutions require that certain executive powers may only be exercised in conjunction with the legislature. For example, often the consent of the legislature is required to ratify treaties, appoint important officials, or to declare war. In the United Kingdom, however, the executive is exempt from most such limitations under the royal prerogative.

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the unofficial national library of the United States. With about 530 miles of shelves it is often claimed to be the largest library in the world. It contains almost 128 million items, second only to the British Library (with over 150 million items). Its collections include more than 28 million cataloged books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 50 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America, including a Gutenberg Bible; and the world's largest collection of legal materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings. In late-November 2005, the Library announced intentions to launch the World Digital Library, digitally preserving books and other objects from all world cultures.

History

The Library of Congress was established on April 24, 1800, when President John Adams signed an act of Congress providing for the transfer of the seat of government from Philadelphia to the new capital city of Washington. The legislation appropriated $5,000 "for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress ..., and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them...." The original library was housed in the new Capitol until August 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the Capitol building, destroying the contents of the small (3,000 volumes) library. Within a month, retired President Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement. Jefferson had spent 50 years accumulating books, "putting by everything which related to America, and indeed whatever was rare and valuable in every science"; his library was considered to be one of the finest in the United States. Jefferson, who was heavily indebted, sought to use the proceeds of the sale of his books to satisfy his creditors. He anticipated controversy over the nature of his collection, which included books in foreign languages and volumes of philosophy, science, literature, and other topics not normally viewed as part of a legislative library. He wrote, "I do not know that it contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to exclude from their collection; there is, in fact, no subject to which a Member of Congress may not have occasion to refer." In January 1815, Congress accepted Jefferson's offer, appropriating $23,950 for his 6,487 books, and the foundation was laid for a great national library. The Jeffersonian concept of universality, the belief that all subjects are important to the library of the American legislature, is the philosophy and rationale behind the comprehensive collecting policies of today's Library of Congress. On December 24, 1851, there was a fire in the Library of Congress. The fire destroyed 35,000 books, an original portrait of Christopher Columbus, portraits of the first five US Presidents by Gilbert Stuart, and statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette. The Library is now spread over three buildings in Washington, D.C.:
- The Thomas Jefferson Building (between Independence Avenue and East Capitol Street on First Street SE), opened in 1897, and long the main building of the Library;
- The John Adams Building (between Independence Avenue and East Capitol Street on 2nd Street SE), opened as an annex in 1938; and
- The James Madison Memorial Building (between First and Second Streets on Independence Avenue SE), opened in 1981 as the new headquarters of the Library. (Note: Between April 13, 1976 and June 13, 1980, the John Adams Building was known as the Thomas Jefferson Building.)

Holdings

1981 The Library developed a system of book classification called Library of Congress Classification (LC) which is used by most research and university libraries, although most public libraries continue to use the Dewey decimal system. The Library serves as a legal repository to guarantee copyright protection. All authors seeking American copyright registration are required to submit two copies of their works to the Library. Largely due to this provision of the copyright law, nearly 22,000 new items published in the U.S. arrive every business day at the Library. Contrary to popular belief, however, the Library does not retain all of these works in its permanent collection, although it does add an average of 10,000 items per day. Rejected items are used in trades with other libraries around the world, distributed to federal agencies, or donated to schools, communities, and other organizations within the United States.[http://www.loc.gov/about/facts.html] As is true of many similar libraries, the Library of Congress retains copies of every publication in the English language which is deemed significant. It is estimated that the print holdings of the Library of Congress would, if digitized and stored as plain text, constitute 17 to 20 terabytes of information. This leads to the commonly-repeated but misleading equivalence of 20 terabytes to the entire holdings of the Library. Occasionally, this figure has been referred to as a data transfer rate, LoCs/s- Libraries of Congress per Second- and equates to 20 terabytes of data transferred per second, even though the 20 terabyte estimation is misleading. Only selected portions of the print holdings have actually been digitized, and the Library currently has no plans for systematic digitization of any significant portion of its books. The Library makes millions of digital objects, comprising tens of terabytes, available at its American Memory site. American Memory is a source for public domain image resources, as well as audio, video, and archived Web content. Nearly all of the lists of holdings, the catalogs of the library, can be consulted directly on its web site. Librarians all over the world consult these catalogs, through the Web or through other media better suited to their needs, when they need to catalog for their collection a book published in the United States. They use the Library of Congress Control Number to make sure of the exact identity of the book. The Library of Congress also provides an on-line archive of the proceedings of the U.S. Congress at [http://thomas.loc.gov Thomas], including bill text, Congressional Record text, bill summary and status, the Congressional Record Index, and the United States Constitution. The Library also administers the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, a talking and Braille library program provided to more than 766,000 Americans.

Using the Library

The library is open to the general public for academic research, and runs tours for visitors. Only those who are issued a Reader Identification Card may enter the reading rooms and access the collection. The Reader Identification Card is available in the Madison building to persons who are over 18 years of age upon presentation of a government issued picture identification (e.g., driver's license, State ID card, Passport). However, only members of Congress, their staff and certain other government officials can actually check out books.

Librarians of Congress

The head of the Library of Congress is called the Librarian of Congress. The list of past Librarians of Congress includes several notable figures: Blind
- John James Beckley (1802–1807)
- Patrick Magruder (1807–1815)
- George Watterston (1815–1829)
- John Silva Meehan (1829–1861)
- John Gould Stephenson (1861–1864)
- Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1864–1897)
- John Russell Young (1897–1899)
- Herbert Putnam (1899–1939)
- Archibald MacLeish (1939–1944)
- Luther H. Evans (1945–1953)
- Lawrence Quincy Mumford (1954–1974)
- Daniel J. Boorstin (1975–1987)
- James H. Billington (1987–)

Annual events at the Library of Congress

Annual events include:
- The National Book Festival
- Founder's Day Celebration
- Archives Fair
- Judith P. Austin Memorial Lecture
- Davidson Fellows Reception

External links

- [http://www.loc.gov/ The Library of Congress website]
- [http://www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/ History of the Library of Congress]
- [http://memory.loc.gov/ American Memory]
- [http://thomas.loc.gov/ thomas.loc.gov], legislative information
-
- Category:National libraries Category:U.S. Congressional agencies Category:Washington, D.C. landmarks Category:U.S. National Historic Landmarks Category:Archives in the United States ja:アメリカ議会図書館

Government Printing Office

In the United States, the Government Printing Office (GPO) prints and provides access to documents produced by and for all three branches of the federal government, including the Supreme Court, the Congress, and all executive branch agencies like the FCC and EPA. The primary mission of the GPO, a legislative agency, is to inform citizens by making government publications widely available, by gathering, cataloging, providing, and preserving published information in all forms. GPO provides information to the pubic through [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ GPO Access], which contains searchable databases of government information, and through the Federal Depository Library Program, which is a partnership with hundreds of libraries throughout the country. GPO began operations in accordance with Congressional Joint Resolution 25 of June 23, 1860. The activities of GPO are defined in the public printing and documents chapters of Title 44 of the U.S. Code. The Public Printer, who serves as the head of GPO, is appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. GPO now contracts out much of the federal government's printing but prints the Official Journals of Government in-house. The Official Journals of Government include
- Public and Private Laws
- Code of Federal Regulations
- Statutes at Large
- United States Code
- The Federal Register, which is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations.
- The Congressional Record The GPO also publishes an official style manual to be used for all Government publications. The GPO Bookstore sells these and other publications. The bookstore is located at 710 North Capitol St. NW, Washington, DC 20401. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is responsible for the printing of US currency. See also: National Technical Information Service

External links

- [http://www.gpo.gov/ GPO website]
- [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ GPO Access - Portal to Government Information]
- [http://bookstore.gpo.gov/ GPO Online Bookstore]
- [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/stylemanual/browse.html GPO Style Manual] Government Printing Office Government Printing Office

Administrative Procedure Act

The federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA) of 1946 governs the way in which administrative agencies of the United States federal government may propose and establish regulations. The APA also sets up a process for federal courts to directly review agency decisions. As such, it is an important source of authority within federal American administrative law. The APA applies to both independent agencies and executive department agencies, and their subdivisions. U.S. Senator Pat McCarran called the APA "a bill of rights for the hundreds of thousands of Americans whose affairs are controlled or regulated" by federal government agencies. The text of the APA can be found under Title 5 of the United States Code, beginning at Section 500.

Historical background: growth of federal administrative agencies

United States Code The APA was enacted during a period of expanding federal governmental power, following the Great Depression and World War II. Beginning in 1933, Roosevelt and the Democratic Congress enacted several statutes that created new federal agencies. The statutes were part of Roosevelt’s New Deal legislative plan designed to deliver the United States from the social and economic hardship of the Great Depression. In a law journal article on the history of the APA, Fierce Compromise: The Administrative Procedure Act Emerges from New Deal Politics, 90 Nw. Univ. L. Rev. 1557 (1996), professor George Shepard discusses the contentious political environment from which the APA was born. Shepard claims that Roosevelt’s opponents and supporters fought over passage of the APA "in a pitched political battle for the life of the New Deal" itself. (Ibid at 1562.) Shepard does note, however, that a legislative balance was struck with the APA, expressing "the nation’s decision to permit extensive government, but to avoid dictatorship and central planning." (Ibid at 1559.) A 1946 U.S. House of Representatives report discusses the 10-year period of "painstaking and detailed study and drafting" that went into the APA. (See Administrative Procedure Act, Report of the House Judiciary Committee, No. 1989, 79th Congress, 1946, at 8). Because of rapid growth in the administrative regulation of private conduct, Roosevelt ordered several studies of administrative methods and conduct during the early part of his four-term presidency. (Ibid.) Based on one study, Roosevelt commented that the practice of creating administrative agencies with the authority to perform both legislative and judicial work "threatens to develop a fourth branch of government for which there is no sanction in the Constitution." In 1939, Roosevelt requested that Attorney General Frank Murphy form a committee to investigate practices and procedures in American administrative law and suggest improvements. That committee's report, The Final Report of the Attorney General's Committee on Administrative Procedure (Senate Document No. 8, 77th Congress, First Session, 1941) (see external link to the Final Report's text below), contains detailed information about the development and procedures of the federal agencies. The Final Report defined a federal agency as a governmental unit with "the power to determine . . . private rights and obligations" by rulemaking or adjudication. (Ibid at 7.) The Final Report applied that definition to the largest units of the federal government, and identified "nineteen executive departments and eighteen independent agencies." (Ibid.) If various subdivisions of the larger units were considered, the total number of federal agencies at that time increased to 51. In reviewing the history of U.S. government agencies, the Final Report noted that almost all agencies had undergone changes in name and political function. Of the 51 federal agencies discussed in the Final Report, 11 were created by statute in the period prior to the Civil War. In the period from 1865 to 1900, six new agencies were created. Most notable was the formation of the Interstate Commerce Commission, created in 1887 in response to widespread criticism of the railroad industry. The period of 1900 to 1940, however, saw the greatest expansion of federal administrative power - with 35 new agencies created by statute. 18 of these were created during the 1930's, from statutes enacted as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal legislative agenda. The Final Report made several recommendations about standardizing administrative procedures, but Congress delayed action because the U.S. entered World War Two.

Basic purposes of the APA

Agencies create a unique situation because, as governmental bodies, they exercise powers characteristic of all three branches of government: judicial, legislative and executive. As recognized by President Roosevelt and others, this raises issues regarding the concept of separation of powers under the United States Constitution. As a result, the APA provides a structured framework for regulating agencies and their unique role. According to the Attorney General's Manual on the Administrative Procedure Act (1947) (see external link to the Manual's text below), drafted after the 1946 enactment of the APA, the basic purposes of the APA are: (1) to require agencies to keep the public informed of their organization, procedures and rules; (2) to provide for public participation in the rulemaking process; (3) to establish uniform standards for the conduct of formal rulemaking and adjudication; (4) to define the scope of judicial review. The APA includes a broad view of agencies, which means its provisions apply pervasively throughout many federal governmental institutions. The APA in section 551(1) defines an "agency" as "each authority of the Government of the United States, whether or not it is within or subject to review by another agency," with the exception of several enumerated authorities, including the U.S. Congress, U.S. courts, and governments of territories or possessions of the United States. Courts have also held that the U.S. President is not an agency under the APA. Franklin v. Mass., 505 U.S. 788 (1992). The Final Report organized federal administrative action into two parts: adjudication and rulemaking. (p. 5) Agency adjudication was broken down further into two distinct phases of formal and informal adjudication. (Ibid.) Formal adjudication involved a trial-like hearing with witness testimony, a written record and a final decision. Under informal adjudication, however, agency decisions are made without formal trial-like procedures, using "inspections, conferences and negotiations" instead. (Ibid.) Because formal adjudication produces a record of proceedings and a final decision, it may be subject to judicial review. As for rulemaking resulting in agency rules and regulations, the Final Report noted that many agencies provided due process through hearings and investigations, but there was a need for well-defined, uniform standards for agency adjudication and rulemaking procedures.

External links

- [http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/Courses/study_aids/adlaw/ Administrative Procedure Act]
- [http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/admin/1941report.html Final Report of the Attorney General's Committee on Administrative Procedure]
- [http://www.oalj.dol.gov/public/apa/refrnc/agtc.htm Attorney General's Manual on the Administrative Procedure Act]
- [http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/administrative.html Legal Information Institute administrative law overview]
- [http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/adlaw.htm Key administrative law decisions by the US Supreme Court]
- [http://www.washlaw.edu/doclaw/executive5m.html Federal administrative agency index via Washburn School of Law] Category:United States administrative law Category:United States federal legislation Category:1946 in law

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, known informally as the "D.C. Circuit", is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a discretionary basis by the Supreme Court. It should not be confused with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, which is roughly equivalent to a state supreme court in the District of Columbia. While it has the smallest geographic jurisdiction of any of the United States courts of appeals, the D.C. Circuit, with twelve active seats, is nonetheless one of the most important intermediate appellate courts. The court is given the responsibility of directly reviewing the decisions and rulemaking of many federal agencies, without prior hearing by a district court. Aside from the agencies whose statutes explicitly direct review by the D.C. Circuit, the court typically hears cases from other agencies under the more general jurisdiction granted to the Courts of Appeals under the Administrative Procedures Act. Given the broad areas over which federal agencies have power, this often gives the judges of the D.C. Circuit a central role in affecting national U.S. policy and law. A judgeship on the D.C. Circuit is often thought of as a stepping stone for appointment to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are alumni of the D.C. Circuit. In addition, the Reagan administration put forth two failed nominees in 1987 from the D.C. Circuit: former Judge Robert Bork, who was rejected by the Senate, and current Chief Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, who withdrew his nomination after it became known that he had used marijuana as a college student and professor in the 1960's and 1970's. Prior to the 1980's, Chief Justices Fred M. Vinson and Warren Burger, as well as Associate Justice Wiley Blount Rutledge, served originally on the D.C. Circuit before their elevations to the Supreme Court. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit meets at the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse, near Judiciary Square in downtown Washington.

Current composition of the court

As of Harry T. Edwards' assumption of senior status on November 3, 2005, the judges on the court are:

Pending nominations

- On July 25, 2003, President George W. Bush nominated Brett M. Kavanaugh to Seat 12 vacated by Laurence H. Silberman.

List of former judges

^(a) Prior to 1948, the court consisted of a Chief Justice and up to five Associate Justices. Much like in the United States Supreme Court, the Chief Justice would be separately nominated and subject to a separate confirmation process, regardless of whether or not he was elevated from an associate justice position. In 1948, the positions of Chief Justice and Associate Justice were reassigned to Circuit Judge positions and the position of Chief Judge was assigned based on seniority. ^(b) Recess appointment, confirmed by the Senate at a later date.

Chiefs

When Congress established this court in 1893 as the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, it had a Chief Justice, and the other judges were called Associate Justices, just like the Supreme Court. Just like the Supreme Court, the Chief Justiceship was a separate seat: the President would appoint the Chief Justice, and that person would stay Chief Justice until they left the court. On June 25, 1948, 62 Stat. 869 and 62 Stat. 985 became law. These acts made the Chief Justice a Chief Judge. In 1954, another law, 68 Stat. 1245, clarified what was implicit in those laws: that the Chief Judgeship was not a mere renaming of the position but a change in its status that made it the same as the Chief Judge of other inferior courts.

Succession of seats

The court has twelve seats for active judges. The seat that was originally the Chief Justiceship is numbered as Seat 1; the other seats are numbered in order of their creation. If seats were established simultaneously, they are numbered in the order in which they were filled. Judges who retire into senior status remain on the bench but leave their seat vacant. That seat is filled by the next circuit judge appointed by the President.

References

-
- source for the duty station for Judge Williams
-
- source for the duty station for Judges Silberman and Buckley
- data is current to 2002
-
- source for the state, lifetime, term of active judgeship, term of chief judgeship, term of senior judgeship, appointer, termination reason, and seat information

External links

- [http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/ United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]
- [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=dc&navby=year&year=recent Recent opinions from FindLaw] Category:District of Columbia Category:Washington, D.C. United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. Its headquarters are in the community of Langley in the McLean CDP of Fairfax County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.. The CIA is part of the American Intelligence Community, which is now led by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The roles and functions of the CIA are roughly equivalent to those of the British MI6, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, or the Israeli Mossad.

Organization

History

Mossad The Agency, created in 1947 by President Harry S. Truman, is a descendant of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) of World War II. The OSS was dissolved in October 1945 but William J. Donovan (aka Wild Bill to both his friends and enemies), the creator of the OSS, had submitted a proposal to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 calling for a new organization having direct Presidential supervision, "which will procure intelligence both by overt and covert methods and will at the same time provide intelligence guidance, determine national intelligence objectives, and correlate the intelligence material collected by all government agencies." Despite strong opposition from the military, the State Department, and the FBI, Truman established the Central Intelligence Group in January 1946. Later under the National Security Act of 1947 (which became effective on September 18, 1947) the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency were established. In 1949, the Central Intelligence Agency Act (also called "Public Law 110") was passed, permitting the agency to use confidential fiscal and administrative procedures and exempting it from many of the usual limitations on the use of federal funds. The act also exempted the CIA from having to disclose its "organization, functions, officials, titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed." It also created a program called "PL-110" to handle defectors and other "essential aliens" outside normal immigration procedures, as well as give those persons cover stories and economic support. [http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/tenetvdoe-petresp.pdf] During the first years of its existence, other branches of government did not exercise much control over the Agency. This was often justified by a desire to defeat and match the activities of the KGB across the globe, a task that many believed could only be accomplished through an equally ungentlemanly approach. As a result, few in government inquired too closely into CIA activity. The rapid expansion of the Agency and a developing sense of independence under DCI Allen Dulles added to this trend. Things came to a head in the early 1970s, around the time of the Watergate affair. One dominant feature of political life during this period were the attempts of Congress to assert its power of oversight over the executive branch of government. Revelations about past CIA activities, such as assassination attempts of foreign leaders and illegal domestic spying, provided the opportunity to carry out this process in the sphere of intelligence operations. Hastening the Agency's fall from grace were the involvement of ex-CIA agents in the Watergate break-in and President Nixon's subsequent attempts to use the CIA to stop the FBI investigation of Watergate. In the famous "smoking gun" tape which led to Nixon's resignation, Nixon ordered his chief of staff Haldeman to tell the CIA that further investigation of Watergate would "open the whole can of worms" about the Bay of Pigs operation, and therefore that the CIA should tell the FBI to stop investigating Watergate because of "national security." DCI James R. Schlesinger had commissioned a series of reports on past CIA wrongdoing. These reports, known euphemistically as "the Family Jewels", were kept close to the Agency's chest until an article by Seymour Hersh in the New York Times broke the news that the CIA had been involved in the assassination of foreign leaders and kept files on some seven thousand American citizens involved in the peace movement (Operation CHAOS). Congress investigated the CIA in the Senate through the Church committee, named after Chairman Frank Church (D-Idaho) and in the House through the Pike committee, named after Chairman Otis Pike (D-N.Y.); and these investigations led to further embarrassing disclosures. Around the Christmas of 1974/5, another blow was struck by Congress when they blocked covert intervention in Angola. The CIA was subsequently prohibited from assassinating foreign leaders. Further, the prohibition against domestic spying, which had always been prohibited by the CIA charter, was again to be enforced, with the FBI having sole responsibility for domestic investigation of US citizens . Angola Today, the Central Intelligence Agency reports to U.S. Congressional committees but also answers to the President directly. The National Security Advisor is a permanent cabinet member responsible for briefing the President on pertinent information collected from all U.S. intelligence agencies including the National Security Agency, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and others. Many of the post-Watergate restrictions on the CIA have been removed after the 9/11 attacks. Some critics have charged that this violates the requirement in the U.S. Constitution that the federal budget be openly published. However, the U.S Congress and President Harry Truman approved arrangements in 1949 that CIA and national intelligence funding could be hidden in the overall U.S federal budget. In 1988, President George H. W. Bush became the first former head of the CIA to be elected President of the United States. On January 25, 1993, Mir Amir Kansi murdered 2 people and injured 3 others in their cars in front of CIA headquarters in Langley. Kansi was later captured and was executed in 2002. Previously, the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) oversaw the Intelligence Community and served as the principal intelligence adviser to the president, in addition to serving as head of the Central Intelligence Agency. The DCI's title is now Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (DCIA), and the Director serves as head of the CIA. Today, all 15 agencies of the Intelligence Community are under the Director of National Intelligence, who currently is former ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte.

CIA Seal

The compass, or star, as some call it, has sixteen points. These points show the CIA's search for intelligence data all over the world outside the United States and bringing it all back home to headquarters in Virginia for analysis, reporting, and being passed on to policy makers. The compass rests upon a shield which is a symbol for defense. The intelligence gathered is meant to be used in defense of the United States of America.

Structure

The Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency is [http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/bio.asp?bioID=65 Vice Admiral Albert M. Calland, III, USN]. The DD/CIA assists the Director in his duties as head of the CIA and exercises the powers of the Director when the Director’s position is vacant or in the Director’s absence or disability. The Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency is K.D. "Dusty" Foggo with responsibility for the day to day management. The [http://www.cia.gov/cia/di/index.html Directorate of Intelligence], the analytical branch of the CIA, is responsible for the production and dissemination of all-source intelligence analysis on key foreign issues. The current Deputy Director for Intelligence is [http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/kringen.html John A. Kringen]. The National Clandestine Service, a semi-independent service which was formerly the Directorate of Operations, is responsible for the clandestine collection of foreign intelligence and covert action.The current Director of the NCS is believed to be under cover. The [http://www.cia.gov/cia/dst/home.html Directorate of Science & Technology] creates and applies innovative technology in support of the intelligence collection mission. The current Deputy Director for Science & Technology is Stephanie L. O’Sullivan. The Directorate of Support provides the mission critical elements of the Agency's support foundation: people, security, information, property, and financial operations. The current Deputy Director for Support is [http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/smith.html Stephanie Danes Smith]. The [http://www.cia.gov/csi/index.html Center for the Study of Intelligence] maintains the Agency's historical materials and promotes the study of intelligence as a legitimate and serious discipline. The current Director is Paul Johnson. The [http://www.cia.gov/ogc/index.htm Office of the General Counsel]advises the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on all legal matters relating to his role as CIA director and is the principal source of legal counsel for the CIA. The current Acting General Counsel is John A. Rizzo . The Office of Inspector General promotes efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability in the administration of Agency activities. OIG also seeks to prevent and detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. The Inspector General is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Inspector General, whose activities are independent of those of any other component in the Agency, reports directly to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. OIG conducts inspections, investigations, and audits at Headquarters and in the field, and oversees the Agency-wide grievance-handling system. The OIG provides a semiannual report to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency which the Director is required to submit by law to the Intelligence Committees of Congress within 30 days. The current Inspector General is John L. Helgerson. The [http://www.cia.gov/cia/public_affairs/pas.html Office of Public Affairs] advises the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on all media, public policy, and employee communications issues relating to his role as CIA director and is the CIA’s principal communications focal point for the media, the general public and Agency employees. The current Director of Public Affairs is [http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/millerwise.html Jennifer Millerwise Dyck]. [http://www.cia.gov/employment/images/DOMosaic.pdf Current CIA Recruiting Poster]

Relationship with other agencies

The CIA has strong links with other intelligence organizations, namely its Canadian counterpart, CSIS, which is headed by Jim Judd. The CIA acts as the primary American provider of central intelligence estimates. It makes use of the surveillance satellites of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the signal interception capabilities of the NSA, including the Echelon system, the surveillance aircraft of the various branches of the U.S. armed forces and the analysts of the State Department and Department of Energy. At one stage, the CIA even operated its own fleet of U-2 surveillance aircraft. The agency has also operated alongside regular military forces, and also employs a group of clandestine officers with paramilitary skills in its Special Activities Division. Micheal Spann, a CIA officer killed in November 2001 during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, was one such individual. A peculiarity of the CIA - which is shared by other intelligence services, parts of the US state security agencies - is the difficulty to ensure long-term multilateral relationships with, for instance, European counterparts. Moreover, the terrorist attacks of the 11th September served to demonstrate the inability to put ahead a solid multilateral cooperation between US security services themselves. What is already difficult to perform at the national level becomes a real try to attempt the impossible at the international level. While European services have fully cooperated for more than 40 years in an actual multilateral way (i.e. exchanging information by means of a network that delivers the new information to all members without any kind of discrimination)
- , the CIA does still work like in the 50's, i.e. in bilateral relationships and, mainly, by taking the more possible info while delivering the less to its unfortunate counterpart. Of course, this strategy could work if its "partners" were acting as it does, only by means of bilateral relationships to other services. Anyway when the so-called partners exchange all info with all others, it implies that the info delivered by the CIA is automatically and instantaneously distributed to all members of the Network. In such a way, European partners noticed very quickly what they still experience every day since then, i.e. the "American way" of (non-)distributing information. The main consequence of such practises is the fact that CIA and other US services are utterly discredited among their EU colleagues. Another "collateral damage" of such lack of collaboration is thus that EU countries are also tempted to hide info to their US colleagues since it is proven that the latest do the same. Once the CIA will cease to be so arrogant and "unilaterally minded" towards their international counterparts, it will be slightly easier to install a climate of trust and, for instance, to fight "terrorism" for real.
- This European Network is called the "Club of Bern", cf. the Swiss Governement web site. http://internet.bap.admin.ch/f/archiv/medien/2004/04281.htm

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

The head of the CIA is given the title of the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (DCIA). The Central Intelligence Agency was created in 1947 with the signing of the National Security Act by President Harry S. Truman. The act also created a Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) to serve as head of the United States intelligence community; act as the principal adviser to the President for intelligence matters related to the national security; and serve as head of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 amended the National Security Act to provide for a Director of National Intelligence who would assume some of the roles formerly fulfilled by the DCI, with a separate Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Porter J. Goss became the [http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/Goss.html Director of the Central Intelligence Agency]on April 21, 2005. He served as Director of Central Intelligence from September 24, 2004 until April 21, 2005. Director Goss previously served as head of the House Intelligence Committee as a representative from Florida. Director Goss is also a former CIA Operations Officer.

Historical operations

Eastern Europe

In its earliest years the CIA and its predecessor, the OSS, attempted to rollback Communism in Eastern Europe by supporting local anti-communist groups; none of these attempts met with much success. Attempts to instigate revolutions in the Ukraine and Belrus by infiltrating anti-Communist spies and saboteurs met with total failure. In Poland the CIA spent several years sending money and equipment to an organization invented and run by Polish intelligence. It was more successful in its efforts to limit Communist influence in France and Italy, notably in the 1948 Italian election. It has now been firmly established (see references below) that the OSS actively recruited and protected many high ranking Nazi officers immediately following World War II, a policy that was carried on by the CIA. These included, the CIA now admits, the notorious "butcher of Lyon" Klaus Barbie, Hitler's Chief of Soviet Intelligence General Reinhard Gehlen, and numerous less-renowned Gestapo officers. General Gehlen, due to his extensive (if dubious) intelligence assets within the Soviet Union, was allowed to keep his spy-network intact after the war in the service of the United States. The Gehlen organization soon became one of America's chief sources of Intelligence on the Soviet Union during the cold war, and formed the basis for what would later become the German intelligence agency the BND.

Third World

With Europe stabilizing along the line of the Iron Curtain, the CIA then moved in the 1950s to try to limit the spread of Soviet influence elsewhere around the globe, especially in the Third World. With the encouragement of DCI Allen Dulles, clandestine operations quickly came to dominate the organization. Initially they proved very successful: in Iran in 1953 (see Operation Ajax) and in Guatemala in 1954 (see Operation PBSUCCESS), CIA operations, with relatively little funding, orchestrated the overthrow of democratically elected governments and replacing them with non-democratic, but pro-American governments. However, the instability created in Guatemala resulted in a 30-year civil war which caused over 100,000 fatalities; and in Iran, the Shah's brutal dictatorship, which aggressively eliminated all political opposition, would cause the rise of a fundamentalist Islamic government after the Shah was eventually overthrown. In 1958, a coup attempt was made on Indonesia's President Sukarno, with the CIA backing the rebels, while other elements of the U.S. government backed Sukarno. The operation failed when a CIA operative was captured after his plane was shot down, and was found to have on his possession his actual identification as a CIA agent. In 1965, Sukarno was finally ousted in a coup d'état supported by the CIA, led by Suharto. The CIA provided the new Suharto government a list of several thousand Communists and leftists who were to be eliminated. However, the summary executions soon got out of hand, and in little more than a month, 500,000 executions took place, often directed at Indonesia's Chinese minority. The CIA secretly supplied Suharto's troops with a field communications network. Flown in at night by US Air Force planes from the Philippines, this was state-of-the-art equipment, whose frequencies were known to the CIA and the National Security Agency. Not only did this technology allow Suharto's generals to coordinate the killings, it also meant that the highest echelons of the US administration were listening in. Suharto was able to seal off large areas of the country. Ralph McGehee, a senior CIA operations officer at the time, described the ousting of Sukarno in Indonesia as a "model operation" for the US-run coup that got rid of the democratically elected Salvador Allende in Chile seven years later. Following the coup in Chile, summary executions of Communist leaders were limited to an estimated 3,000; however, two Americans were among those killed. One of the executed Americans, Charles Harmon, became a cause celebre after the movie "Missing" told the story of his father's attempt to learn his son's fate. [http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/PIL108A.html] The limitations of large scale covert action became readily apparent during the CIA organized Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961. The failure embarrassed the CIA and the United States on the world stage, as Cuban leader Fidel Castro used the botched invasion to consolidate power and strengthen ties with the Soviet Union. CIA operations became less ambitious after the Bay of Pigs, and shifted to being closely linked to aiding the U.S. military operation in Vietnam. Between 1962 and 1975, the CIA organized a Laotian group known as the Secret Army and ran a fleet of aircraft known as Air America to take part in the Secret War in Laos, part of the Vietnam War. The CIA continued to involve itself in Latin America, supporting military dictatorships in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. During the early 1970s, the CIA conducted operations to prevent the election of Salvador Allende in Chile. When these operations failed, the CIA supported Allende's Chilean opponents, who would overthrow him in a 1973 coup. In the early 1980s, after the overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua, the CIA funded and armed the Contras, forces opposed to the leftist Sandinista government. Congress passed the Boland Amendment which forbade any U.S. funding of the Contras. The Reagan administration ignored the Boland Amendment by using profits from the sale of arms to Iran to fund the Contras. Part of the CIA campaign to overthrow the Nicaragua government included mining Nicaragua's harbors, resulting in the sinking of a merchant ship. This resulted in a World Court decision in the case Nicaragua v. United States ordering the United States to pay Nicaragua reparations, although the U.S. ignored the verdict. In 1993, with support of the U.S. government, Colombia created the Search Block to locate and kill Pablo Escobar. In 1996, journalist Gary Webb wrote a series of exposes for the San Jose Mercury News, entitled "Dark Alliance," in which he uncovered the use of CIA aircraft, which has ferried arms to the Contras, to ship cocaine to the United States during the return flights. Thus, Central American narcotics traffickers could import cocaine to US cities in the 1980s without the interference of normal law enforcement agencies. This led, in part, to the crack cocaine epidemic, especially in Los Angeles, and the CIA intervened to prevent the prosecution of drug dealers who were helping to fund the Contras. Government pressure forced the San Jose Mercury News to retract Webb's conclusions (without actually retracting any of the facts that Webb uncovered,) and Webb was prevented from conducting any more investigative reporting. Webb was transferred to cover non-controversial suburban stories, and was finally forced from his job.

Controversies

Defectors such as former agent Philip Agee have alleged that such CIA covert action is extraordinarily widespread, extending to propaganda campaigns within countries allied to the United States. The agency has also been accused of participation in the illegal drug trade, notably in Laos, Afghanistan, and Nicaragua. It is known to have attempted assassinations of foreign leaders, most notably Fidel Castro, though since 1976 a Presidential order has banned such "executive actions," except during wartime. In 1996, the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence issued a congressional report estimating that the clandestine service part of the intelligence community "easily" breaks "extremely serious laws" in countries around the world, 100,000 times every year. [http://www.thememoryhole.org/ciacrimes.htm] In a briefing held September 15 2001, George Tenet presented the Worldwide Attack Matrix: A "top-secret" document describing covert CIA anti-terror operations in 80 countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The actions, underway or being recommended, would range from "routine propaganda to lethal covert action in preparation for military attacks." The plans, if carried out, "would give the CIA the broadest and most lethal authority in its history." [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A64802-2002Jan30?language=printer] On November 5, 2002, newspapers reported that Al-Qaeda operatives in a car traveling through Yemen had been killed by a missile launched from a CIA-controlled Predator drone (a medium-altitude, remote-controlled aircraft). On May 15, 2005, it was reported [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/14/AR2005051401121.html] that another of these drones had been used to assassinate Al-Qaeda figure Haitham al-Yemeni inside Pakistan. In June 2005, two events occurred that may shape future CIA operations. Arrest warrants for 13 CIA agents were issued in Italy. The agents are alleged to have taken a suspected Egyptian militant from Milan on 17 February 2003 for extraordinary rendition to Egypt, where according to his relatives of the cleric, he was allegedly tortured. The removal of the militant wasn't unusual except that it was conducted without the approval of the Italian government. Similar operations of this sort have occurred worldwide since 9/11, the vast majority with at least tacit approval by the national government. Additionally, it allegedly disrupted Italian attempts to penetrate the militant's Al Qaeda network [http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=650032]. The New York Times reported soon after that it is highly unlikely that the CIA agents involved would be extradited, despite the US-Italy bilateral treaty regarding extraditions for crimes that carry a penalty of more than a year in prison. The agents involved in the operation are also reported to have booked lavish hotels during the operation and taken taxpayer-funded vacations after it was complete. [http://www.alternet.org/story/23683/] Soon after, President Bush appointed the CIA to be in charge of all human intelligence and manned spying operations. This was the apparent culmination of a years old turf war regarding influence, philosophy and budget between the Defense Intelligence Agency of The Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency. The Pentagon, through the DIA, wanted to take control of the CIA's paramilitary operations and many of its human assets. The CIA, which has for years held that human intelligence is the core of the agency, successfully argued that the CIA's decades long experience with human resources and civilian oversight made it the ideal choice. Thus, the CIA was given charge of all US human intelligence, but as a compromise, the Pentagon was authorized to include increased paramilitary capabilities in future budget requests. Despite reforms which have led back to what the CIA considers its traditional principal capacities, the CIA Director position has lost influence in the White House. For years, the Director of the CIA met regularly with the President to issue daily reports on ongoing operations. After the creation of the post of the National Intelligence Director, currently occupied by John Negroponte, that practice has been discontinued in favor of the National Intelligence Director, with oversight of all intelligence, including DIA operations outside of CIA jurisdiction, giving the report. Current CIA Director Porter Goss, himself a former CIA officer, denies this has had a diminishing effect on morale, in favor of promoting his singular mission to reform the CIA into the lean and agile counter-terrorism focused force he believes it should be. On December 6 2005, German Khalid El-Masri filed a lawsuit against former CIA Director George Tenet, claiming that he was transported from Macedonia to a prison in Afghanistan and held captive there by the CIA for 5 months on a case of mistaken identity. 2 Months after his true identity had been found out, he had been taken to Albania and released without funds or an official excuse.

Support for foreign dictators

The activities of the CIA have caused considerable political controversy both in the United States and in other countries, often nominally friendly to the United States, where the agency has operated (or been alleged to). Particularly during the Cold War, the CIA supported various dictators, including Chile's infamous Augusto Pinochet, who have been friendly to perceived U.S. geopolitical interests (namely anti-Communism), sometimes over democratically-elected governments. Often cited as one of the American intelligence community's biggest blunders is the CIA involvement in equipping and training Mujahedeen fighters in Afghanistan in response to the Soviet invasion of the country. Many of the Mujahedeen trained by the CIA later joined Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist organization. Zbigniew Brzezinski, the National Security Advisor under President Carter, has discussed U.S. involvement in Afghanistan in several publications. Later, the CIA facilitated the so-called Reagan Doctrine, channelling weapons and other support (in addition to the Mujahedeen and the Contras) to Jonas Savimbi's UNITA rebel movement in Angola in response to Cuban military support for the MPLA, thus turning an otherwise low-profile African civil war into one of the larger battlegrounds of the Cold War.

Highly illegal activities

The Intelligence Community in the 21st Century, Staff Study, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress: [http://www.loyola.edu/dept/politics/intel/ic21_files/ic21009.html]

A safe estimate is that several hundred times every day (easily 100,000 times a year) [parenthesis in original] DO [Directorate of Operations] officers engage in highly illegal activities (according to foreign law) [parenthesis in original] that not only risk political embarrassment to the US but also endanger the freedom if not lives of the participating foreign nationals and, more than occasionally, of the clandestine officer himself. In other words, a typical 28 year old, GS-11 case officer has numerous opportunities every week, by poor tradecraft or inattention, to embarrass his country and President and to get agents imprisoned or executed. Considering these facts and recent history, which has shown that the DCI, whether he wants to or not, is held accountable for overseeing the CS, the DCI must work closely with the Director of the CS and hold him fully and directly responsible to him.

Criticism for ineffectiveness

The agency has also been criticized for ineffectiveness as an intelligence gathering agency. These criticisms included allowing a double agent, Aldrich Ames, to gain high position within the organization, and for focusing on finding informants with information of dubious value rather than on processing the vast amount of open source intelligence. In addition, the CIA has come under particular criticism for failing to predict the collapse of the Soviet Union and India's nuclear tests or to forestall the September 11, 2001 attacks. Conversely, proponents of the CIA respond by stating that only the failures become known to the public, whereas the successes cannot be known until decades have passed. Immediate release of successful operations would reveal operational methods to foreign intelligence, which could affect future and/or ongoing missions. Some successes for the CIA include the U-2 and SR-71 programs, anti-Soviet operations in Afghanistan in the mid-1980s (though with the serious downsides noted earlier, the ultimate worth of these operations is open to considerable debate), and perhaps others which may not come to light for some time.

Drug trafficking

Allegations have repeatedly been made that the CIA has been involved in drug trafficking to fund illegal operations. For example, it has been alleged that the CIA was involved in the sale of cocaine in Los Angeles to help fund the Iran-Contra Affair (see [http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/]). Ms. Waters, stated in Congress that: :In 1982, the Attorney General and the Director of Central Intelligence entered into an agreement that excluded the reporting of narcotics and drug crimes by the CIA to the Justice Department. Under this agreement, there was no requirement to report information of drug trafficking and drug law violations with respect to CIA agents, assets, non-staff employees and contractors. This remarkable and secret agreement was enforced from February 1982 to August of 1995. This covers nearly the entire period of U.S. involvement in the Contra war in Nicaragua and the deep U.S. involvement in the counterinsurgency activities in El Salvador and Central America. [http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/7May98/waters2.html] It has also been alleged that the CIA has been involved in the opium/heroin trade in Asia. (see [http://www.serendipity.li/cia.html]).

Assassinations

The CIA has been linked to several assassination attempts on foreign leaders, including the President of Cuba, Fidel Castro. Initially, the CIA hired the Mafia to perform the assassination. (All of the Mafia figures involved would later be assassinated themselves, including John Roselli and Sam Giancana.) After repeated Mafia failures, the CIA decided to attempt assassinating Castro itself. (see Operation Mongoose)

CIA operations in Iraq

According to some sources [http://www.muslimedia.com/archives/features98/saddam.htm] [http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/history/1963cialist.htm] [http://www.zmag.org/shalomhate.htm] [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2849.htm] the CIA appears to have supported the 1963 military coup in Iraq and the subsequent Saddam Hussein-led government up until the point of the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. U.S. support was premised on the notion that Iraq was a key buffer state in relations with the Soviet Union. There are court records [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq61.pdf] indicating that the CIA gave military and monetary assistance to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War. The CIA were also involved in the failed 1996 coup against Saddam Hussein (see Iyad Allawi). In 2002 an unnamed source, quoted in the Washington Post, says that the CIA was authorized to undertake a covert operation, if necessary with help of the Special Forces, that could serve as a preparation for a full-scale military attack of Iraq. [http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/06/16/iraq.congress/] The unreliability of U.S. intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq have been a focus of intense scrutiny in the U.S. In 2004, the continuing armed resistance against the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the widely perceived need for systematic review of the respective roles of the CIA, FBI and the Defense Intelligence Agency are prominent themes. On July 9 2004 the Senate Report of Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq of the Senate Intelligence Committee stated that the CIA described the danger presented by weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in an unreasonable way, largely unsupported by the available intelligence. [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/national/09CND-INTEL.html?hp]

Secret CIA Prisons

A story by reporter Dana Priest published in The Washington Post of November 2, 2005, reported that "The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important alleged al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement."[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/01/AR2005110101644_pf.html] The report contends that the CIA has a worldwide covert prison system with facilities in Asia, Eastern Europe, and in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The system is central to the agency's anti-terror role, and according to the report has been kept secret from government officials (including Congressional committees that oversee the CIA) through the agency's own efforts as well as cooperation with foreign intelligence services. Priest's story continues:

"The existence and locations of the facilities -- referred to as "black sites" in classified White House, CIA, Justice Department and congressional documents -- are known to only a handful of officials in the United States and, usually, only to the president and a few top intelligence officers in each host country...The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents."

The BBC has followed up on these reports and confirmed that there is credible evidence of covert prisons. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4088746.stm] Trent Lott also seems to have confirmed their existence. [http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Senator_tells_CNN_he_believes_Republican_1108.html] On November 8, 2005 US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert called for a joint leak probe by the Senate and House intelligence committees into the disclosure of these alleged secret CIA facilities in a letter. In their letter (If the Post story is correct) "such an egregious disclousure could have long-term and far-reaching damaging and dangerous consequences, and will imperil our efforts to protect the American people and our homeland from terrorist attacks."[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051108/ap_on_go_co/congress_media] The letter went on to state: "What is the actual and potential damage done to the national security of the United States and our partners in the global war on terror?" Republican Senator Lindsey O. Graham accused the Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of shifting the focus of investigations from why these illegal prisons exist to how information of them was leaked to the public. Spain is investigating allegations that the CIA used Palma airport for unauthorised prisoner transfers [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4439036.stm]. In December 2005, ABC News reported that former agents claimed the CIA used waterboarding, along with five other "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques," against suspected members of al Qaeda held in the secret prisons. [http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1375123] [http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1322866&page=1]. Waterboarding is widely regarded as a form of torture, though there are reports that President Bush signed a secret "finding" that it is not and authorizing its use. on 13 December, Dick Marty, investigating illegal CIA activity in Europe on behalf of the Council of Europe reported evidence indicating that "individuals had been abducted and transferred to other countries without respect for any legal standards". Marty at a news conference said he believed that the United States had moved its illegally detained from Europe to North Africa in early November as a reaction to the Washington Post report.

Other

Other Government Agency or OGA is the standard military and governmental euphemism for the CIA. It is used when the CIA's presence is an open secret, but cannot be officially confirmed. Other colloquial names for CIA are The Agency and The Company. A pejorative term for people who work for the CIA or other intelligence agencies is often "spook"; the phrase "Virginia farmboys" is also occasionally used in reference to the Langley, VA headquarters. One of the CIA's publications, the CIA World Factbook, is unclassified and is indeed made freely available without copyright restrictions because it is a work of the United States federal government.

Administrative agency

Well known examples

Former agencies

See also

External links

Statute

Administrative law

Administrative law in common law countries

Administrative law in the United States

Historical development

Administrative law in civil law countries

France

Germany

Executive Branch

Executives under different systems

Role of the executive

See also

Library of Congress

History

Holdings

Using the Library

Librarians of Congress

Annual events at the Library of Congress

See also

External links

Government Printing Office

External links

Administrative Procedure Act

Historical background: growth of federal administrative agencies

Basic purposes of the APA

See also

External links

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Current composition of the court

Pending nominations

List of former judges

Chiefs

Succession of seats

See also

References

External links

Central Intelligence Agency

Organization

History

CIA Seal

Structure

Relationship with other agencies

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Historical operations

Eastern Europe

Third World

Controversies

Support for foreign dictators

Highly illegal activities

Criticism for ineffectiveness

Drug trafficking

Assassinations

CIA operations in Iraq

Secret CIA Prisons

Other

Further reading