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Here are the main agencies:
CIA: The Central Intelligence Agency, created in 1947, is based in Langley, Virginia outside Washington. It has 17,000 employees and an estimated 3.1-billion-dollar annual budget. It backed coups to overthrow unfriendly foreign governments during the Cold War, but its mission has changed since the fall of communism. It is involved in economic espionage and it gathers, corroborates and analyzes information that could affect US security. The agency has several divisions, including a Directorate of Operations and a Directorate of Science and Technology.
NSA: The National Security Agency, created in 1952, is based in Fort Meade, Maryland, a state bordering Washington. Its 21,000 agents specialize in deciphering coded messages, listening to telephone calls and infiltrating e-mails. It uses satellites that can read a car's license plate number from space. The ultra-secretive agency, sometimes known as "No Such Agency," has an estimated 3.6-billion-dollar annual budget.
NRO: The National Reconnaissance Office, created in 1960, is based in Chantilly, Virginia. It oversees the intelligence community's satellites and provides images to the CIA and the Pentagon. Its budget and personnel figures are unknown, but employees come from the intelligence, military and science fields.
FBI: The Federal Bureau of Investigation, created in 1908, is based in Washington. Its 11,400 agents stepped up their role in intelligence gathering and analysis after September 11 2001. Outside the country, the FBI contributes to intelligence gathering in investigations of terrorism and plane attacks.
Homeland Security Department: The agency was created in 2003 to group 17,000 employees from 22 federal departments and agencies linked to national security. Its mission includes combining and analyzing intelligence from multiple sources such as the FBI and CIA.
Other agencies: Each armed forces service has its own intelligence division. These services -- in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force -- employ a total of 54,000 people and have an estimated 11-billion-dollar annual budget.
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