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Despite no longer being the Director of the OSS, Donovan continued to advocate for the formation of an effective centralized intelligence agency. His persistence paid off when President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 on July 26, 1947, which established the Central Intelligence Agency operating today.[13]Realizing that his previous endeavors for modernizing the nation’s defense setup were not working out, President Truman pushed the legislation for the NSC through Congress for the primary goal of uniting the armed services under a civilian chief, with the secondary goal being intelligence reform.[14] After rigorous Congressional scrutiny, the National Security Act authorized the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), “an independent, central agency, overseeing strategic analysis and coordinating clandestine activities abroad. It would not be a controlling agency. The CIA would both rival and complement the efforts of the departmental intelligence organizations.”[15]
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