Suspension of a U.S. intelligence statistical project after six decades

Since 1962, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been publishing a book known as the “World Factbook.”

This source, which contained a wide range of information—especially economic data about countries around the world, including Iran—was initially available only to government officials, and later became accessible to researchers, educators, journalists, and the general public.

The CIA’s official website, without explaining the reasons for the suspension, stated that the World Factbook had evolved over the decades from a classified publication to an unclassified resource, from print to digital format, and that new sections and even new geographic entities had been added.

The original classified version, titled “National Basic Intelligence Factbook,” was published in 1962. The first unclassified version followed in 1971, and about a decade later, its name was changed to the “World Factbook.”
In 1997, it became digital and was made available on the CIA’s website for a global audience, attracting millions of visitors annually.

According to analysts, the large federal budget deficit—which pushed the administration of Donald Trump to cut spending in various areas—may be one of the reasons behind the project’s termination.

The American publication The New York Times also reported that the CIA declined to comment on the reason for shutting down the Factbook, but not everyone is unhappy about it. Beth Sanner, a former senior intelligence official, recalled that working on it in the 1980s was both tedious and risky, as even minor mistakes could lead to numerous complaints.

She added that while access to reliable, compiled information was once essential, today the existence of the internet has made the project more of a habit than a necessity./Tasnim