National Clandestine Service

The National Clandestine Service (NCS) (formerly known as the "Directorate of Operations") is the main U.S. intelligence agency for coordinating human intelligence (HUMINT) services. The organization absorbed the entirety of the [Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA)'s "Directorate of Operations," and also coordinates HUMINT between the CIA and other agencies, including, but not limited to, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Diplomatic Security Service, Defense Intelligence Agency, Air Intelligence Agency, Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), Marine Corps Intelligence Activity, and Office of Naval Intelligence. The Director of the NCS reports to the CIA Director.

The creation of the NCS was officially announced on October 13, 2005. The NCS was created in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The investigation by the 9/11 Commission reported that HUMINT had been severely degraded in the past two decades, principally because of the end of the Cold War and because of startling revelations about CIA operations uncovered by the investigations of the Church Committee of the U.S. Senate.

The NCS has analogues in the National Security Agency (signals intelligence), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (imagery intelligence), and the Defense Intelligence Agency.