Q 01/05

The CIA's headquarters is in which Virginia community, whose name is shorthand for the agency itself?

A) Langley

B) Quantico

C) Arlington

D) Fort Meade

Answer · why

A) Langley

Langley: in January 1993 a gunman fired on cars waiting at the light by its main gate, killing two CIA employees; he was caught in Pakistan in 1997.

Q 02/05

The CIA was established by which 1947 law?

A) the Espionage Act

B) the National Security Act

C) the Taft-Hartley Act

D) the Smith Act

Answer · why

B) the National Security Act

The National Security Act of 1947 also created the National Security Council and merged the War and Navy departments under a new Secretary of Defense.

Q 03/05

Which wartime organisation, abolished by Truman in 1945, was the CIA's predecessor?

A) the Office of Naval Intelligence

B) the Signal Intelligence Service

C) the Office of Strategic Services

D) the Bureau of Investigation

Answer · why

C) the Office of Strategic Services

The Office of Strategic Services employed Julia Child, who at 6ft 2in was too tall for the women's services and assisted the developers of a shark rep...

Q 04/05

Which 'Wild Bill', a World War I hero, led America's wartime spy agency before the CIA existed?

A) William Casey

B) William Colby

C) William Stephenson

D) William Donovan

Answer · why

D) William Donovan

William Donovan: the story goes that after he ran his WWI troops over a three-mile obstacle course in full packs, they dubbed him 'Wild Bill'.

Q 05/05

Under a 2004 law, the head of the CIA reports to which official?

A) the Director of National Intelligence

B) the Secretary of Defense

C) the Secretary of Homeland Security

D) the National Security Adviser

Answer · why

A) the Director of National Intelligence

The Director of National Intelligence post grew from the 9/11 Commission's call for one chief to unify the spy agencies, a role the CIA's director had...