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For decades it had tried to oppose and undermine Soviet Union - but the end of the Cold War left the CIA in a challenging position.
Budgets were cut, stations were closed and nearly five thousand personnel with decades of experience had walked out the door.
Then came 9/11 and the so-called "War on Terror":
America's spy agency was about to be supercharged.
Kathryn's guest is Pulitzer-prize winning author Tim Weiner.
He's written six books, including Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, but that work canvassed the period of the agency's creation in 1947 to the turn of the millennium and was published just as the CIA's roles in rendition and torture were being laid bare.
He's turned his attention to the CIA's actions in the first quarter of this century - right up to the return of Donald Trump as President.
It's called The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century and is extraordinarily detailed, with extremely candid interviews with current and former CIA employees.
