Answer:
The Central Intelligence Agency is the main intelligence agency of the federal government of the United States. The CIA has its headquarters in Langley (Virginia), a few kilometers from the US capital, Washington D.C. Its employees, in general, operate in US embassies around the world. It is the only US intelligence agency that enjoys independence, since it only has to report to the National Director of Intelligence. Because of the power enjoyed by the agency, it has come to be considered a State within the State.
Its operations during the Cold War, have been divided by continents and following a chronological order in each section. We must remember that the greatest successes are not known, because the most successful operation is one that accomplishes its objectives without the agency having been identified as the author. It came to have a large network of agents, was recognized as the best payer and had large incinerators capable of burning tons of paper a day with unnecessary information.
Throughout the Cold War the operations of the CIA and NATO in general in Europe revolved around the strategy of tension, which was divided into different tentacles in several countries, the largest of which was Gladio, in Italy, although the operations extended to Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, Holland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. The Gladio operation is the most famous of the CIA's covert operations in Europe, both because of its length in time and because of its implications for the history of Western Europe.
