CIA terminates its World Factbook, overthrowing reference regime

The Sudden Disappearance of the CIA’s World Factbook

On a Wednesday afternoon, Taylor Hale was teaching a Western geography lesson when his sixth-grade students revealed that their usual online reference had vanished. The students were tasked with comparing the gross domestic products of Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, so they turned to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook. Instead of finding the familiar index of countries, they encountered a blue webpage announcing the Factbook’s retirement.

A Trusted Resource Now Gone

For decades, the World Factbook served as a reliable, authoritative public repository of basic information about countries, their economies, and their people. Its sudden disappearance on February 4 left teachers, students, librarians, researchers, and curious citizens abruptly without a go-to reference. “The CIA Factbook is not bulletproof perfect, but it’s way better than a lot of other sources out there and it’s free,” said Hale, a social studies teacher in Oklahoma City. “It was always there, and now it’s not.”

“It’s a tough loss,” said John Devine, a government information research specialist for the Boston Public Library. “We’re going to have to find things from other sources. Again, how well can we trust them? How well are we going to be able to get data on developing or even barely developing countries?”

A Legacy of Global Data

Originally called “The National Basic Intelligence Factbook,” the resource began in 1962 as a classified publication for government and military officials. An unclassified version followed in 1971, and in 1975, it became available to the public in print. It was renamed “The World Factbook” in 1981, and in 1997, the publication transitioned to a digital format.

The CIA’s decision to shut down the Factbook came with no advance notice or explanation. The agency declined to comment on the record for this story, opting instead to post an obituary of sorts on a webpage titled “Spotlighting The World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell.” The final line of the page reads: “Though the World Factbook is gone, in the spirit of its global reach and legacy, we hope you will stay curious about the world and find ways to explore it… in person or virtually.”

While the website briefly outlines the Factbook’s history, the CIA did not elaborate on the reasons for ceasing publication or whether any of the information would be retained.