Spotlighting The CIA's World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Reposted by Gambled And Lost Hat
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

Simon Willison
‪@simonwillison.net‬

The CIA just stopped publishing their World Factbook and took every page, including the archived copies of previous versions!

This sucks. It was public domain, so I recovered the 2020 edition (the last one published as a zip file) and shared it to GitHub
https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/5/the-world-factbook/

Spotlighting The World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell
Somewhat devastating news today from the CIA: One of CIA’s oldest and most recognizable intelligence publications, The World Factbook, has sunset. There's not even a hint as to why they …
simonwillison.net
7:25 PM · Feb 4, 2026

The CIA just stopped publishing their World Factbook and took every page, including the archived copies of previous versions!

This sucks. It was public domain, so I recovered the 2020 edition (the last one published as a zip file) and shared it to GitHub simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/5/t...

— Simon Willison (@simonwillison.net) 2026-02-05T00:25:55.334Z

[marble falls]

1. An excellent source of information. Put it back up.