THE HISTORY OF CIA'S SECRET SEAL

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06902718
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: July 13, 2023
• Document Release Date: January 10, 2022
• Case Number: F-2019-02358

Approved for Release: 2022/01/10 C06902718
The History of CIA's Seal
If you've spent time on CIA's website or browsed through our social media accounts, you're no doubt
familiar with our seal. Made famous by countless Hollywood films and TV shows, the CIA seal featured
on the floor at our Headquarters in Langley, Virginia has become almost as famous as the Agency itself.
The seal features our nation's bird�the eagle--symbolizing strength and alertness, a shield to represent
defense and the role of intelligence in defending the nation, and a 16-point compass rose which
symbolizes the collection of intelligence from across to globe to a central location (CIA). The seal is so
identifiable with CIA that it's hard to imagine anything else in its place. However, it might surprise you to
know that the path to this seal, as we know it today, was far from certain.
It Started with a Contest
CIA was officially created with the signing of the National Security Act of 1947. While that Act green-
lighted CIA to carry out its important mission, what it didn't do was account for the creation of an official
seal. This may seem an insignificant detail, but executives of the young CIA expressed concern that other
US government organizations might question the legitimacy of documents missing an official seal.
Hence, two years later the CIA Act of 1949 was signed, which � among other things � provided for the
creation of an official seal.
On 1 July, 1949, CIA issued a notice to all employees inviting submissions of a "suitable design" for what
would become our official seal. Originality and appropriateness, rather than artistic talent, were the
criteria for judging. Employees would have just two weeks to submit their designs.
Call in the Pros
After reviewing around a dozen submissions from Agency employees, it was determined that none were
what the leaders were looking for to represent CIA. So they decided to turn to professionals. Meetings
to discuss the seal design with the US Army Heraldic Branch (today's US Army Institute of Heraldry)
began in late July 1949.
By December 1949 the Heraldic Branch completed the design process and presented CIA with the design
and several color palette options from which to choose.
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Then Director of Central Intelligence Roscoe Hillenkoetter made the call to select the seal we know
today and on 17 February 1950, President Truman gave the final approval. He signed several copies,
including the one pictured below which is displayed at CIA Headquarters.
The Seal that Never Was
We all love the seal in its current form, but isn't it
always fun to consider what might have been? Should
CIA's design history have chartered a different course,
what seal might we be talking about today? What seal
could have been forever enshrined on the lobby of CIA's
headquarters, in place of the infamous eagle's bust,
shield, and compass rose?
Well, the employee contest yielded some interesting
submissions. Here are a few of our favorites.
Some elements may seem familiar, and that is not by
accident. Records show us that the Heraldic Branch
reviewed employee-designs and incorporated some of
The more appropriate pieces into CIA's final seal. The
compass rose, eagle, shield, and some of the font-styling
stand out in particular. And while we're not sure there
was any real 'winner' of the employee design contest,
our votes most certainly would have gone to the owl-
and-lantern design. Why? Because it's a hoot, that's
why.
Approved for Release: 2022/01/10 C06902718