The Central Intelligence Agency, usually referred to as the CIA, is a civilian intelligence agency within the United States government that gathers intelligence overseas. Established in 1947 as a successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) of World War II, the CIA's activities have long included "sabotage, anti-sabotage, demolition and evacuation measures...subversion [and] assistance to underground resistance movements, guerrillas and refugee liberation movements, and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in threatened countries of the free world."
The Agency's secretive nature, including being completely uncooperative with local police, has naturally aroused suspicion in many Americans, some of whom see all of the CIA's activities as inherently sinister. Among that group is Sergeant John Munch of the NYPD.
In 1973, the CIA supported a coup d'état in Chile. (L&O: "Vaya Con Dios")
Ronald Hawk was an operative of the CIA before he resigned and became a Private Investigator.(CI: "Courtship")