The Census Today

Response to the census is required by law. The information is kept strictly confidential. Data collected from individuals can be used for statistical purposes only, not for taxation, investigation, or regulation. In addition to operations mandated by law, the Census Bureau consults extensively with the users of its statistics. Advisory committees discuss methods of handling census materials so that the statistics are appropriate for most data users.

Census data directly influence decisions on matters of national and local importance such as education, employment, transportation, military-personnel potential, business cycles, health-care needs, parks, natural resources, energy, and international relations. State and local governments use census information for drawing legislative and other district boundaries. Because many public programs are funded according to population, and because congressional representation is based on the number of residents, state and local authorities are particularly concerned with obtaining an accurate count.

The 21st Decennial Census of Population and Housing officially began on April 1, 1990. A temporary workforce of approximately 300,000 people was hired to check the returned forms, visit households from which forms had not been returned, and perform many clerical tasks. Tabulation of the data yielded more than 300,000 pages of statistics, which were made available to the public.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), agency of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, created in 1947 together with the National Security Council. The CIA is a permanent peacetime intelligence agency, responsible for keeping the government informed of foreign actions affecting national interests and coordinating national intelligence activities. Its director is appointed by the president with the approval of the United States Senate.

The CIA attempts to recruit agents who can obtain vital information without detection. Intelligence reports are reviewed by analysts who produce daily, weekly, or monthly bulletins. The CIA is also responsible for counterespionage activities (see Espionage). Covert political operations have ranged from subsidizing friendly foreign politicians, parties, or pressure groups, to providing assistance through paramilitary operations.

In 1975 the CIA came under extensive congressional and White House examination. Investigators found that the agency had engaged in "unlawful" domestic spying activities and had been implicated in assassination attempts abroad. Permanent congressional committees were established to oversee CIA operations. By 1986, however, the agency was involved in a controversy concerning the secret sale of weapons to Iran and the disbursement of funds from the sale to the rebels (known as the contras) fighting the government of Nicaragua.

In the 1990s the CIA was rocked by a number of scandals. In 1994 Aldrich Ames, a career counterintelligence officer, was convicted of selling secrets to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1995 it was revealed that two men in Guatemala–an American innkeeper and a leftist Guatemalan guerrilla–had been murdered on the orders of a Guatemalan colonel who was a paid agent of the CIA. An investigation revealed that the CIA had known that one of its agents was responsible for the murders.

Checks and Balances are limitations on the powers of any branch of government. Checks and balances are created by giving each branch some powers that offset those of the other branches.

Citizen, individual member of a political society or state. In the republics of antiquity, the term citizen signified not merely a resident of a town but a free, governing member of the state. Greek citizens had the right to participate in both the legislative and judicial functions of their political community. In ancient Rome two classes of citizens were recognized: The first possessed the rights of citizenship; the second possessed these rights and the additional right to hold state office. In the United States the word citizen is used in its broadest sense. An individual may be at once a citizen of the United States and of the state in which he or she resides. However, the citizen owes first and highest allegiance to the federal government. A citizen of the United States may be native-born or naturalized. A naturalized citizen was originally a subject of a foreign state but has become a citizen of the United States (see Naturalization). A person may also hold dual citizenship, meaning that two different nations officially recognize that person as a citizen. This occurs most commonly when a child is born in one country and the parents hold citizenship in another.

City Planning, unified development of cities and their environs. For most of its history, city planning dealt primarily with the regulation of land use and the physical arrangement of city structures, as guided by architectural, engineering, and land-development criteria. In the mid-1900s it broadened to include the guidance of the physical, economic, and social environment of a community. City planning is conducted by governments on all levels and by private groups.