The CIA has three main responsibilities: 1. On the ground intelligence gathering (ie - Bribing a reluctant member of a militant group for information on their

The CIA has three main responsibilities: 1. On the ground intelligence gathering (ie - Bribing a reluctant member of a militant group for information on their operations and physical location). Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curveball_(informant) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curveball_(informant) 2. Analysis of gathered intelligence and policy recommendation (how trustful is the information from the above described asset, does it mesh with what is already known, and if it is what course of action should be taken). Example: Philip Seymour Hoffman's character in Charlie Wilson's War, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson%27s_War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson%27s_War 3. Clandestine operations (carrying out of policy recommendations in #2 that can't be performed by traditional military forces, say the group in question is determined to present a credible threat and needs to be neutralized but is headquartered in Iran). Example: Bay of pigs invasion, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion