This history of America's Central Intelligence Agency traces the organization's 50 years of existence and the people who made it the world's foremost secret service. Agency directors, spies, analysts and operatives tell of the secrets that have shaped so many lives and events. The book also considers the agency's current priorities and uncertain future, in the light of the collapse of the USSR and the end of superpower balance. From its creation by an Irish-American lawyer, Big Bill Donovan, the action-orientated CIA has helped to shape history. Through events such as the Bay of Pigs incident, the Vietnam War, the toppling of the Government in Iran and the Cold War, the CIA has made its presence felt. The findings and decisions of the intelligence network it has established, have influenced the fundamental course of US foreign policy. "Watergate" brought the "skeletons" out, and the CIA's integrity was scrutinized. Rumours of assassination plots, covert operations, agents and double agents, poison manufacture and the widespread belief that the CIA was subverting democracy, placed the agency in a compromising position. The book ties in with a BBC1 television series. The author's other books include ""The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA", "Ireland: An Illustrated History" and "Thatcher's People".