Does No Cold War Mean No CIA? Lesser CIA?

In 1947 IOTL the CIA was formed to collect & analyze intelligence. Due to the Cold War, it of course did, shall we say, a heck of a lot
more than just that. It is no exaggeration, I
think, to say that now IOTL it is one of the
most important agencies of the U.S. govern-
ment. But say we(somehow)butterfly away
the Cold War.

1: Will the CIA even be established?
2: If it is, will it be tasked with the many
tasks it has been IOTL? In other words,
would it not be so important ITTL?
 

James G

Gone Fishin'
In 1947 IOTL the CIA was formed to collect & analyze intelligence. Due to the Cold War, it of course did, shall we say, a heck of a lot
more than just that. It is no exaggeration, I
think, to say that now IOTL it is one of the
most important agencies of the U.S. govern-
ment. But say we(somehow)butterfly away
the Cold War.

1: Will the CIA even be established?
2: If it is, will it be tasked with the many
tasks it has been IOTL? In other words,
would it not be so important ITTL?

When created, the CIA wasn't held in that high esteem in Washington. It was underfunded and didn't have proper leadership. The outbreak of the Korean War changed things with that though and the organisation grew to what it became. Without the Korean War it might have died rather fast.
 
A lot of things might have died absent a Korean War. IIRC the CIA was in part a buercratic ploy to dissolve the OSS & remove the WWII OSS leaders from intelligence gathering responsibilities. Louis Johnson as Sec Def favored forming the CIA as a replacement for the separate military service intelligence organizations. He failed to dissolve those completely. Fiscal conservatives in Congress favored this as well as they thought it would reduce defense costs. How all that might have gone without a Korean War or Cold War I can't say, but by early 1950 it was pretty much a train wreck & contributed to the poor reaction to the NKPA invasion.

The opening months of the Korean War demonstrated the bankruptcy of US defense policy & led swiftly to increased defense budgets and attention to strategic intelligence gathering. The CIA gained some traction in this era as one of multiple overlapping intelligence services.
 
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Driftless

Donor
A lot of the CIA work is above board mundane gathering of economic, agricultural, industrial, meteorological, etc, etc information on countries across the globe - friends, enemies, and those you aren't sure about. Somebody would be doing that for military and diplomatic purpose.
 

James G

Gone Fishin'
A lot of the CIA work is above board mundane gathering of economic, agricultural, industrial, meteorological, etc, etc information on countries across the globe - friends, enemies, and those you aren't sure about. Somebody would be doing that for military and diplomatic purpose.
That never makes the movies! You're correct, that role is vital and will always have to be done.
 
I have a good feeling that the CIA in a TL without a Cold War would play a very small role in world affairs with the lack of a concern in communist antics worldwide. But at least we wouldn't have to deal with their shady antics regarding OTL's in regards to combating Communist/Soviet influence.
 
One needs to look at the OSS and how the divide began. The issue came down to propaganda and political advocacy versus intelligence gathering and covert action, the OS, like the CIA fell into housing the dirty tricks stuff that put expediency before ideals. That rump inserted into CIA made it the ugly troll that no one really wanted to claim yet turned to when it was results today that was desired. Without the obvious threat of war the OSS likely never gets born, without the Cold War the CIA likely gets to be ore a coordination office and policy think tank more than an agency with tools. The best information outfit is housed in the State Department, the Army and Navy probably do just as well at getting intelligence that is useful, the USA might eschew covert action almost entirely, instead leaning on a more Voice of America approach to influencing events or using actual military force with the greater political debate required. The CIA is not a failure as much as it became the face of un-American virtues, its impact is to muddy the waters for how America perceives the world and engages it, a legacy that is rooted right back into the OSS itself.
 
My problem is: what is "No Cold War?"

OK, on one level clearly it would mean that the Big Four retain good relations with each other, in the UN. What happens then in China (the fifth of the five)?

If China falls into a long-term civil war, or two states divide, then the US is going to need intelligence agencies working with the KuoMintang

And thats just an example
 
I think it depends what America does in this no Cold War timeline. If they take an active role on the world stage as a superpower then some form of intelligence gathering institution is going to be needed.
 
My problem is: what is "No Cold War?"

OK, on one level clearly it would mean that the Big Four retain good relations with each other, in the UN. What happens then in China (the fifth of the five)?

If China falls into a long-term civil war, or two states divide, then the US is going to need intelligence agencies working with the KuoMintang

And thats just an example


I meant no world-wide conflict between the
U.S. & U.S.S.S.R. as we saw IOTL. I certainly
did NOT mean that I forsaw ITTL a world
free of war &/or international tensions.
 
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