(9 Feb 2026) The surprise announcement appeared on the CIA website on 4 February 2026 as “Spotlighting the World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell”
The announcement continued: “One of the CIA’s oldest and most recognizable Intelligence publications, The World Factbook, has sunset”.
The Factbook began in 1962 as an internal document intended to be widely shared but only within U.S. government agencies. It became publicly available in print in 1997 and on the web in 1997. It provided a brief summary (2-3 pages) of 258 international entities, not only established countries but also dependencies, territories, and similar areas, including their demographics, geography, communications, government, economy, and military.
It has now disappeared, vaporized. Totally gone, history and all. With no explanation as to why the decision was made.
Read more here.
