overuse of the CIA

In gaming, when you need a shadowy organization to pull the strings behind the curtain, it's far too easy to just say "he works for the CIA". The truth of the matter is, there's 16 different agencies in the US alone that a PC/NPC mole, conspirator, or black-operative could work for. Why settle for the boring old CIA, when you can be an operative from the DMA's office of GEOINT? Those guys are the ones with the real power - "hey Fred, whattya say we move the space needle a couple hundred feet southwest today?"

Here's the list from the Wikipedia page on the Intelligence Comunity...

The IC consists of 16 members (also called elements). The Central Intelligence Agency is an independent agency of the United States government. The other 15 elements are offices or bureaus within federal executive departments. The IC is led by the DNI, whose office (ODNI) is not listed as a member of the IC.

• Independent agencies
  • Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

• United States Department of Defense (DoD)
  • Secretary of Defense, through the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA)
  • Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency (AF ISR or AIA)
  • Army Military Intelligence
  • Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
  • Marine Corps Intelligence Activity
  • National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
  • National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
  • National Security Agency (NSA)
  • Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)

• United States Department of Energy
  • Office of Intelligence

• United States Department of Homeland Security
  • Office of Intelligence & Analysis
  • Coast Guard Intelligence

• United States Department of Justice
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation Directorate of Intelligence (FBI DI)
  • Drug Enforcement Administration Office of National Security Intelligence (DEA)

• United States Department of State
  • Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR)

• United States Department of the Treasury
  • Office of Intelligence and Analysis

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