Publication Details
Published 2013
This collection of declassified analytic monographs and reference aids, designated as the CAESAR, POLO, and ESAU series, was originally released in 2007. The documents reflect the views of seasoned analysts who often engaged in heated debate.
The 147 documents in this collection, over 11,000 pages of analysis, were written between 1953 and 1973. In contrast to the intelligence community’s streams of formal assessments on the Soviet Union and China, the less formal and uncoordinated CAESAR, POLO, and ESAU studies were not intended as “finished” intelligence products. Rather, the authors sought to develop a comprehensive knowledge base on select political issues that could contribute to analytic capital for specialists throughout the community.
The intent of the collection is to provide insight into some aspects of CIA analytic thinking of the period and to make the documents more readily accessible to the general public.
View declassified Caesar, Polo, and Esau FOIA documents.