CIA Directors Fast Facts - CNN.com (CNN) -- Here's some background information about directors of the Central Intelligence Agency. As part of America's intelligence community, the CIA collects information about foreign governments, organized crime, and terrorist groups. September 18, 1947 - The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is established. It was created by President Harry S Truman under the National Security Act of 1947. December 2004 - President George W Bush signs terrorism prevention legislation, changing the director of central intelligence position to the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Porter Goss is the first "D/CIA" after the reorganization. Current Director: John Brennan - March 8, 2013 - present. - Appointed by President Barack Obama. Former Directors of Central Intelligence: Sidney William Souers - January 23 - June 10, 1946. - Appointed by President Harry S Truman as Director of Central Intelligence within the National Intelligence Authority. - Military Career - Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy; Deputy Chief of Naval Intelligence - Later Experience - first Executive Secretary, National Security Council (1947 - 1950) Hoyt Sandberg Vandenberg - June 10, 1946 - May 1, 1947 - Appointed by President Harry S Truman as Director of Central Intelligence within the National Intelligence Authority. - Military Career - General, U.S. Army Air Corps - Later Career - Vice Chief of Staff, Air Force; Chief of Staff, Air Force Roscoe Henry Hillenkoetter - May 1, 1947 - October 7, 1950 - Appointed by President Truman as Director of Central Intelligence within the National Intelligence Authority. - November 24, 1947- Reappointed, first director under the new National Security Act - December 8, 1947- Senate confirmation - Military Career - Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy; Officer in Charge of Intelligence, Staff of Pacific Commander, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz - Later Career - Vice Admiral; Inspector General of the Navy Walter Bedell Smith - October 7, 1950 - February 9, 1953 - Appointed by President Truman. - Military Career - Lt. General, U.S. Army; Chief of Staff for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower; Commander, First Army - Other Experience - Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1946 - 1949) - Later Career - Undersecretary of State (1953 - 1954) Allen Welsh Dulles - February 26, 1953 - November 29, 1961 - Appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower. - Experience - U.S. Diplomatic Service, 1916 - 1926; Head, Office of Strategic Services, Bern, Switzerland (1942 - 1945); Deputy Director for plans, CIA; Deputy Director, CIA. John Alex McCone - November 29, 1961 - April 28, 1965 - Appointed by President John Kennedy. - Military Career - Deputy Secretary of Defense; Under Secretary of the Air Force - Other Experience - Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission. William Francis Raborn Jr. - April 28, 1965 - June 30, 1966 - Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. - Military Career - Vice Admiral; Director, U.S. Navy Special Projects Office; Deputy Chief of Naval Operations. Richard McGarrah Helms - June 30, 1966 - February 2, 1973 - Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. - Military Career - U.S. Naval Reserve - Other experience - Office of Strategic Services (1943 - 1947); Deputy Director for plans, CIA - Later Career - U.S. Ambassador to Iran (1973 - 1977) James Rodney Schlesinger - February 3, 1973 - July 2, 1973 - Appointed by President Richard Nixon. - Experience - University of Virginia, Economics professor; Assistant Director, Office of Management and Budget; Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission - Later Career - Secretary of Defense (1973 - 1975); Secretary of Energy (1977 - 1979) William Egan Colby - September 4, 1973 - January 30, 1976 - Appointed by President Richard Nixon. - Military Career - U.S. Army enlisted as 2nd Lt. - Other Experience - Office of Strategic Services (1943 - 1945), moved up through the ranks of the CIA; Deputy Director for Operations, CIA; attorney George Herbert Walker Bush - January 30, 1976 - January 20, 1977 - Appointed by President Gerald Ford. - Military Career - Navy pilot - Other Experience - Texas Congressman; UN Ambassador; Chairman, Republican National Committee; Chief US Liaison Office, China - Later Career - US Vice President and President Stansfield Turner - March 9, 1977 - January 20, 1981 - Appointed by President Jimmy Carter. - Military Career - Admiral, U.S. Navy; Director, Systems Analysis Division, Office of Chief of Naval Operations; President, U.S. Naval War College; Commander, U.S. Second Fleet; Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe, NATO William Joseph Casey - January 28, 1981 - January 29, 1987 - Appointed by President Ronald Reagan. - Military Career - Officer, U.S. Naval Reserve - Other Experience - attorney; Office of Strategic Services (1943 - 1945); Chairman, SEC; Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs; president and chairman, U.S. Export-Import Bank; President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board; manager, Reagan presidential campaign. William Hedgcock Webster - May 26, 1987 - August 31, 1991 - Appointed by President Ronald Reagan - Military Career - Lieutenant, U.S. Navy - Other Experience - U.S. Attorney; Judge, U.S. District Court and US Court of Appeals 8th Circuit; Director, FBI (1978 - 1987) Robert Michael Gates - November 6, 1991 - January 20, 1993 - Appointed by President George H.W. Bush. - Experience - Intelligence analyst, CIA; National Security Council staff; Deputy Director of CIA; Chairman, National Intelligence Council; Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; Assistant to the President and Deputy for National Security Affairs; Secretary of Defense (2006 - 2011). R. James Woolsey, Jr. - February 5, 1993 - January 10, 1995 - Appointed by President Bill Clinton. - Military Career - Captain, U.S. Army - Other Experience - National Security Council Staff; General Counsel, Senate Committee on Armed Services; Under Secretary of the Navy; Adviser with US Delegation to SALT I; Ambassador and U.S. representative, negotiations on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. John Mark Deutch - May 10, 1995 - December 15, 1996 - Appointed by President Bill Clinton. - Experience - Systems analyst, Defense Department; Under Secretary of Energy; Under Secretary of Defense; Deputy Secretary of Defense - Later Career - Professor of Chemistry, MIT George John Tenet - July 11, 1997 - July 11, 2004 - Appointed by President Bill Clinton. - Experience - Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1982 - 1988); Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs, National Security Council; Deputy Director of CIA. Former Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency: Porter Johnston Goss - Sept. 24, 2004-May 5, 2006 - Appointed by President George W. Bush. - Military Career - U.S. Army intelligence officer - Other Experience - clandestine service officer with the CIA; Sanibel, Florida, City Councilman, Mayor, Lee County Commission Chairman; Florida Congressman; Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Michael Hayden - May 30, 2006 - February 13, 2009 - Appointed by President George W. Bush. - Military Career - General, U.S. Air Force. Leon Panetta - February 13, 2009 - June 30, 2011 - Appointed by President Barack Obama. - Military Career - Captain, U.S. Army - Other experience - Chief of Staff; California Representative; Chairman, House Committee on the Budget; Director, Office of Management and Budget - July 1, 2011 - present - Secretary of Defense. David Petraeus - September 6, 2011 - November 2, 2012 - Appointed by President Barack Obama. - Military Career - Commander, US Central Command (CentCom); Commander, U.S. forces in Afghanistan (USFOR-A) and NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)