A Brief History of The World Factbook

The Intelligence Cycle is the process of turning raw information into finished intelligence for policymakers. The raw information can come from any source and is called open-source information or open-source intelligence when it comes from publicly available sources, such as those used in The World Factbook. Finished intelligence is the product that results from collecting, processing, integrating, analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting information about foreign countries or areas.

Introduced in 1962, The World Factbook evolved from earlier products that were developed to assist US government officials with locating basic facts about the world for use in finished intelligence.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 brought home to leaders in the US Congress and the executive branch the need for integrating reports to national policymakers. US government officials realized that multiple government offices produced basic information on countries, resulting in a significant duplication of effort and conflicting information. Detailed and coordinated information was needed not only on major powers such as Germany and Japan, but also on places of little previous interest. In the Pacific Theater, for example, the Navy and Marines had to launch amphibious operations against many islands about which information was unconfirmed or nonexistent. Intelligence authorities resolved that the United States should never again be caught unprepared.

In 1943, Gen. George B. Strong (G-2), Adm. H. C. Train (Office of Naval Intelligence), and Gen. William J. Donovan (Director, Office of Strategic Services) decided that a joint effort should be initiated to coordinate the information, known at the time as “basic intelligence.” A steering committee was appointed on 27 April 1943 that recommended the formation of a Joint Intelligence Study Publishing Board to assemble, edit, coordinate, and publish the Joint Army Navy Intelligence Studies (JANIS). JANIS was the first interdepartmental basic intelligence program to fulfill the needs of the US government. Between April 1943 and July 1947, the board published 34 JANIS studies. JANIS performed well in the war effort, and numerous letters of commendation were received, including a statement from Adm. Forrest Sherman, Chief of Staff, Pacific Ocean Areas, which said, “JANIS has become the indispensable reference work for the shore-based planners.”

The Central Intelligence Agency was established on 26 July 1947 and began operating on 18 September 1947. Effective 1 October 1947, the Director of Central Intelligence assumed operational responsibility for JANIS. On 13 January 1948, the National Security Council issued Intelligence Directive (NSCID) No. 3, which authorized the National Intelligence Survey (NIS) program as a peacetime replacement for the wartime JANIS program. Before adequate NIS country sections could be produced, government agencies had to develop more comprehensive gazetteers and better maps. The US Board on Geographic Names compiled the names, the Department of the Interior produced the gazetteers, and CIA produced the maps.

The Hoover Commission’s Clark Committee, set up in 1954 to study CIA's structure and administration, reported to Congress in 1955 that: “The National Intelligence Survey is an invaluable publication which provides the essential elements of basic intelligence on all areas of the world. There will always be a continuing requirement for keeping the Survey up-to-date.” The National Basic Intelligence Factbook was created in 1962 as an annual summary and update to the encyclopedic NIS studies. The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was terminated in 1973, except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer components.

The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public, with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The publication was produced semi-annually until 1981, when it became an annual product and was renamed The World Factbook. Beginning in 1995, the GPO also offered a CD-ROM version. 

In June 1997, The World Factbook made its internet debut. The hardcopy version ceased publication in 2017.