Kids have been private detectives forever in fiction. The only difference between that and spying is that, in espionage, the government is the client.

Some old nonfiction titles still float around -- maybe "lurk in the back alleys of the library" is a better way of putting it -- about spies that were written precisely for children, and not by the CIA. The trend continues and expands, supported by such organizations as Dorling-Kindersley Publishing and Scholastic, Inc.

As you point out, lots of government agencies have child-friendly pages. (Such pages are also low-literacy-adult-friendly, which may be the real point.) The CIA's is a comparatively recent development, as far as I've noticed. I suspect its object is to justify itself as an information-gathering agency using the "educational value" as a device.

As a recruitment tool, unless it contains a subliminal message of fiendish cleverness, it will never pay off. The kids who come looking for spy stuff want Spy Kids, Young Bond, or Horowitz's Alex Rider series, not a map-reading lesson. The kids they want are already going into web-based marketing or game design. Some will get into nanotech, and be paid a king's ransom by private industry. The ones with linguistic smarts interested in government work will be snarfed up by State on one end and the Pentagon on the other.

When the CIA starts to sponsor RPGs and LARPs for kids, then I'll worry about them hooking the minds of the children.

And speaking of LARPs, take a look at Cory Doctorow's novel, Little Brother. It's on the short list for the Hugo this year. **bite bite bite bite bite** (<-- you have to read the book to understand...)

I agree: "CIA 4 Kids" is silly. But mostly harmless. I find cell phone marketing to this age group to be much more insidious.