In this article I will do a case study on the Bay of Pigs and why the United States attempted to carry out this attack. I will uncover what intelligence led to this attempted invasion as well as the intelligence failures that resulted in the invasion failure. I will discuss the impact of the Bay of Pigs on the US intelligence community and the changes that were made. I will end this article with any conclusions I have reached whether this failure impacts how the United States conducts its intelligence activities in today's world. On April 19, 1961, the United States was prepared to take part in a missile attack. The mission was a complete failure and many people were killed during this time. President Kennedy had withdrawn his ground air cover order a week before the bombing. On New Year's Day 1959, Cuban rebel forces, led by Fidel Castro, overthrew the existing government led by Fulgencio Batista. Castro immediately reformed Cuba's economic policies, reducing the power of American companies over Cuban industry and threatening American profits and influence in the region. This greatly angered the United States as a whole and caused the government, under the leadership of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, to become hostile toward Castro. Just a year after Castro came to power, President Eisenhower was convinced that if the best interests of the United States were to be met, the new Cuban government should be abolished. On March 17, 1960, he approved the Central Intelligence Agency's plan, titled "A Covert Action Program Against the Castro Regime." The goal of this program was to "bring about the replacement of the Castro regime with a regime more dedicated to the true interests of the Cuban people and...... middle of paper...... stay on the fence on the question. The Bay of Pigs invasion, although well-intentioned, turned out to be a major debacle and ultimately proved more detrimental than beneficial. Works Cited “The Bay of Pigs”. Cuban Missile Crisis: Fourteen days in October. “Bay of Pigs Invasion: Documents”. Ed. Jon Elliston. March 17, 2001Blight, James G. and Peter Kornbluh, eds. Politics of Illusion: The Bay of Pigs Invasion Reexamined. London: Lynne Rienner, 1998. “Inspector General Investigation of Cuban Operation and Associated Documents.” Central Intelligence Agency: Electronic Document Release Center. March 18, 2001 “Bay of Pigs Invasion”. History of Cuba. Ed. JA Sierra. March 17, 2001 Meyer, Karl E. and Tad Szulc. The Cuban invasion. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1962. Rodriguez, Juan Carlos. The Bay of Pigs. New York: Ocean Press, 1999.