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Press Release
The largest collection of declassified CIA records is now accessible online. The documents were previously only available to the public at the National Archives in Maryland. Approximately 930,000 documents, totaling more than 12 million pages, are now available in the CIA’s Electronic Reading Room on CIA's website.
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What's New on CIA.gov
January 2017
January 18, 2017 - Statement on the Release of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Updated Executive Order 12333 Procedures
January 17, 2017 - CIA Posts More Than 12 Million Pages of CREST Records Online
January 17, 2017 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Plaster Cast of CIA Seal
January 13, 2017 - World Factbook: The fields in both the Economy and Energy categories for all countries were recently updated with the latest available data.
January 10, 2017 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Uniform of OSS Col. William H. Pietsch, Jr.
January 6, 2017 - World Factbook: One might expect Indonesia - with its 13,466 islands - to be the country with the world's longest coastline, but it actually comes in a distant second to another country far to its north with more (and in many cases far larger) islands. Can you name this country? Consult the Political map under the References tab to determine the answer.
January 4, 2017 - CIA's Top 10 Stories of 2016
January 4, 2017 - Surprising Stories You May Have Missed in 2016
January 3, 2017 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Infrared Lantern Beacon
December 2016
December 27, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Tobacco Pouch Camera
December 23, 2016 - World Factbook: The World Factbook is pleased to present the expansion of the “Constitution” entry under the Government category, with the addition of a summary description of the procedure for amending a country’s constitution. This entry, now available for the European countries, includes two subentries: history, which includes information on the previous and current constitution; and amendments, which describes the constitution-amending procedure, and the dates of the previous and latest amendments. In coming weeks, amending procedures will be added for other regions of the world.
December 22, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Greece, Montenegro, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period November 17 – December 15, 2016.
December 20, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: US Army Signal Corps “Handie-Talkie”
December 16, 2016 - World Factbook: The simplest flag types are those that consist of two horizontal bands of color — and nothing else. Four countries have such banners. Can you name them? Consult the Flags of the World under the references tab to help you determine the answer.
December 13, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Al-Qa’ida Gas Mask
December 9, 2016 - World Factbook: Do you know what the initials FAO stand for? Look under the References tab, Appendix A: Abbreviations to find out. Then go to Appendix B: International Organizations and Groups to get more information about this agency.
December 7, 2016 - From Pearl Harbor to the Digital Age: Open Source Enterprise Celebrates 75th Anniversary
December 6, 2016 - CIA Employee Group Receives Award for Promoting LGBT Issues
December 6, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Special Operations Forces Laser Marker (SOFLAM)
December 2, 2016 - World Factbook: Not many people realize it, but nine of the world’s 25 largest countries by land area are in Africa; they are (in alphabetical order) Algeria, Angola, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Mali, Niger, South Africa, and Sudan. Can you sort these countries by decreasing size? Using the Africa map (under the References tab>Regional and World Maps) and the Guide to Country Comparisons (also under the References tab) will allow you to come up with the correct order.
November 2016
November 29, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife
November 23, 2016 - World Factbook: A new set of “Population distribution” fields - describing the dispersion of the populace within a country - has been included for all of the countries of North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia under both the ‘Geography’ and ‘People & Society’ categories. The countries of the Western Hemisphere and the continent of Europe were previously introduced; additional areas of the world will be added in coming weeks.
November 22, 2016 - Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Leslianne Shedd
November 22, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Holy Bible Used in a Memorial Service Honoring Mike Spann
November 17, 2016 - World Factbook: GDP statistics and other economic indicators have been revised to reflect the best estimates currently available.
November 17, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador and Russia. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period November 10-16, 2016.
November 15, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Plate from Hitler’s Chancellery
November 10, 2016 - CIA Launches Signature School Program at The University of New Mexico
November 10, 2016 - Marion Frieswyk: The First Female Intelligence Cartographer
November 10, 2016 - The Mapmaker’s Craft: A History of Cartography at CIA
November 10, 2016 - World Factbook: The data for the various Energy fields have been revised to reflect the best estimates currently available.
November 10, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Cabo Verde, Greece, Kosovo, Lebanon, Malaysia, Spain, Thailand and Turkey. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period November 4-9, 2016.
November 8, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: China-Burma-India Theater Patch
November 4, 2016 - World Factbook: The Transportation section now includes two new fields related to a country’s air transport program. The lead-off entry “National air transport system” has subdivisions on the number of air carriers registered in a country and the number of aircraft they operate, as well as the number of passengers and the amount of freight they carry in a given year. The other new field, “Civil aircraft registration country code prefix,” describes the codes displayed on civil aircraft to identify nationality.
November 4, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Fiji, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Seychelles. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period October 20-November 3, 2016.
November 1, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Glomar Explorer Crew Patch
October 2016
October 28, 2016 - World Factbook: A “Population distribution” field - describing the dispersion of the populace within a country - has been introduced for all of the countries of Europe under the both the ‘Geography’ and ‘People & Society’ categories. The countries of the Western Hemisphere were previously introduced; other areas of the world will be added in coming weeks.
October 26, 2016 - Remembering CIA’s Heroes: David Lee Konzelman
October 25, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Forged German Passport
October 21, 2016 - World Factbook: The statistics for the "Market value of publicly traded shares" have been updated to reflect new information through 2015. Most of the macro economic data have been updated as well.
October 21, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Botswana, Gabon, Macedonia, Pakistan, Seychelles and Sudan. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period October 13-19, 2016.
October 18, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Afghan Hat
October 14, 2016 - World Factbook: In the People and Society section, a "Demographic profile" field has been added to all 56 countries making up the African continent and its surrounding islands. This entry provides a snapshot of the demographic features and trends within a country and how they vary among regional, ethnic, and socioeconomic sub-populations. Some of the topics addressed are population age structure, fertility, health, mortality, poverty, education, and migration. Countries previously introduced were those of Central and South America. Future profiles will include other regions of the world.
October 13, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Brazil, Ecuador, Rwanda, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Yemen. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period September 30 - October 12, 2016.
October 12, 2016 - New Studies in Intelligence Anthology: CIA and the Wars in Southeast Asia, 1947–75
October 11, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Admiral Calland’s Desert Combat Uniform Top
October 7, 2016 - World Factbook: There are dozens of monarchies around the world, but only one located in Polynesia in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Can you name this archipelago of 169 islands (36 inhabited) east of Fiji?
October 5, 2016 - Studies in Intelligence Vol. 60 No.3 now available on CIA.gov
October 4, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Moleskine Notebook
October 3, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Brazil, Estonia, Iraq, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania and South Sudan. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period September 22-29, 2016.
September 2016
September 30, 2016 - World Factbook: All of the “Judicial branch” entries were recently reviewed and many were updated to reflect new information including the establishment of new courts, the expansion of existing courts, and changes to court system administration and policy.
September 28, 2016 - Statement of CIA Director John O. Brennan Regarding the “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act”
September 27, 2016 - Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Central Intelligence Agency Director John O. Brennan at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City (September 26, 2016)
September 27, 2016 - CIA Receives NAAAP Milestone Honor and Silver Sponsor Award
September 27, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Mi-17 Helicopter Clock
September 23, 2016 - The World Factbook is delighted to present a new “Electricity access” field summarizing the extent of access to electricity for a country’s population as a whole, as well as for urban and rural populations. The new entry may be found leading off the Energy section.
September 23, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Angola, Australia, Belgium, France, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Mexico, Moldova, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Sudan, Sweden and Tunisia. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period September 13-21, 2016.
September 20, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Operation JAWBREAKER Knife
September 16, 2016 - World Factbook: Various health and education fields in the People and Society section were recently updated, including data for HIV/AID S, "Health expenditures," "Hospital bed density," "Children under 5 underweight," "Education expenditures," and "School life expectancy."
September 15, 2016 - Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Central Intelligence Agency Director John O. Brennan, Keynote Address at Miles College National Security Colloquium in Birmingham, Alabama (September 13, 2016)
September 14, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Albania, Bulgaria, Chile, India, Iraq, Macedonia, Mali, Nepal, Turkey, Uganda, and Uzbekistan. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period 19 August – 13 September 2016.
September 13, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: KW-7 and KW-26 Crypto Machines
September 8, 2016 - World Factbook: The World Factbook is pleased to announce a new “Population distribution” entry describing the dispersion of the populace within a country. This new field will appear in both the Geography section (after “Irrigated land”) and in the People and Society section (after “Net migration rate”). This week’s installment includes all of the countries of the Western Hemisphere. Additional areas of the world will be added in the coming weeks.
September 6, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Former Soviet Pilot Viktor Belenko’s Knee Pad Notebook with Flight Data
August 2016
August 30, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: $20 Gold Coin Minted in 1858
August 26, 2016 - World Factbook: The Tuamotu islands are found in what ocean? Check Appendix F, Cross Reference List of Geographic Names, under the Appendices tab, to help you determine the answer.
August 25, 2016 - Spy Catcher: Jeanne Vertefeuille
August 24, 2016 - CIA Releases Roughly 2,500 Declassified President’s Daily Briefs from the Ford and Nixon Administrations
August 23, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Argo Ads and Articles in Variety
August 23, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Belgium, Bulgaria, Chad, China, Cuba, The Gambia, Guyana, Haiti, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Malaysia, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, St. Lucia, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period 4 August-18 August 2016.
August 19, 2016 - World Factbook: In May of this year Venezuela moved its clock forward by 30 minutes to help save on energy consumption. The World Factbook recently updated its time zone entries - found in the Government category under "Capital" - to reflect all time zone changes throughout the world.
August 16, 2016 - Telling Data Stories: An Interview with CIA’s Dr. Calvin Andrus
August 16, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Machete
August 12, 2016 - World Factbook: The Mona Passage is a body of water between what two major Caribbean political entities? Find the answer on the Central America and the Caribbean map under the References tab.
August 10, 2016 - CIA to Release Declassified President’s Daily Briefings from the Nixon and Ford Administrations
August 9, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Bulgaria, Burma, Central African Republic, India, Maldives, Kenya, North Korea, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and United Kingdom. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period July 28-August 3, 2016.
August 9, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Elephant Counter
August 8, 2016 - Center for the Study of Intelligence, Intelligence and Policy Monographs
August 5, 2016 - World Factbook: Brazil, which is hosting the Summer Olympic Games for the next two weeks, is one of three South American countries that straddles the Equator. Can you name the other two?
August 2, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Manganese Nodule Encased in Lucite
July 2016
July 29, 2016 - World Factbook: In the Communications category, the “Telephones – fixed lines,” “Telephones – mobile cellular,” and “Internet users” entries were all recently updated with the latest available estimates.
July 26, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: The “Flyaway Kit”
July 25, 2016 - Studies in Intelligence Vol. 60 No.2 now available on CIA.gov
July 22, 2016 - World Factbook: A country modifying its name does not occur very often but it did happen recently. Following UN and US State Department notification, the Czech Republic officially changed its English short-form name to Czechia as of 1 July 2016. Where appropriate, this change has been entered into The World Factbook database.
July 21, 2016 - Who First Cracked the ENIGMA Cipher?
July 19, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: OSS Job Register
July 15, 2016 - Declassified Executive Summary of a 2005 Joint CIA–FBI Memorandum prepared in response the Congressional Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. (PDF 610KB)
July 15, 2016 - World Factbook: Panama is a long, winding country at the southern end of North America that is bisected by the Panama Canal linking the Caribbean Sea, to the country’s north, with the Pacific Ocean, to its south. A recently completed nine-year expansion effort more than doubled the Canal’s capacity. Can you name the North American country that borders Panama on its west, and the South American country that lies to its east?
July 13, 2016 - Director Brennan Speaks at the Brookings Institution
July 13, 2016 - The Mystery of Jane Wallis Burrell: The First CIA Officer To Die in the Agency’s Service
July 12, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: William J. Donovan’s Monogrammed Leather Shoulder Bag
July 8, 2016 - World Factbook: The Danube, Europe’s second longest river, flows through four national capitals. Can you name them? Consulting the regional map of Europe under the References tab will provide the answer.
July 7, 2016 - 20 Years of Pride
July 7, 2016 - Statement from Director Brennan on DLS Year One Implementation (June 30, 2016)
July 1, 2016 - World Factbook: In the Economy category, the statistics for “GDP,” “GDP per capita,” “Gross national saving,” “Inflation rate,” and “Current account balance” were recently updated to reflect the best information available.
June 2016
June 30, 2016 - The Legend of Hercules Mulligan
June 29, 2016 - Director Brennan Speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations
June 28, 2016 - Remembering CIA’s Heroes: William Pierce Boteler
June 28, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Headphones with Bullet Strikes
June 24, 2016 - World Factbook: This month’s concluding ocean-related question. The capital city of Malabo lies on the island of Bioko in what ocean? Check Appendix F, Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names under the Appendices tab to help determine the answer.
June 21, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: One of the Last Flags to Fly Over Checkpoint Charlie
June 20, 2016 - TRIGON: Spies Passing in the Night
June 20, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Burundi, Comoros, Mauritius, Portugal, Romania, Tanzania and Venezuela. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period June 8-19, 2016.
June 17, 2016 - World Factbook: Another ocean-related quiz question. The Line Islands are found in what ocean? Check Appendix F, Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names under the Appendices tab to determine the answer.
June 16, 2016 - Statement by Central Intelligence Agency Director John O. Brennan as Prepared for Delivery Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
June 14, 2016 - CIA Releases Declassified Documents Related to Former Detention and Interrogation Program
June 14, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Metal Cuspidor
June 10, 2016 - World Factbook: Continuing this month’s theme of ocean-related questions. The Andaman Sea is part of what ocean? Check Appendix F, Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names under the Appendices tab to determine the answer.
June 9, 2016 - Remembering U-2 Pilot Carl Overstreet
June 9, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Croatia, Jordan, and the Republic of Congo. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period June 2-7, 2016.
June 7, 2016 - CIA Memorial Garden and Koi Pond
June 7, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Soviet Helicopter Pilot's Helmet
June 6, 2016 - CIA Director John Brennan Speaks at NSEPA Conference
June 6, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Fiji, Israel, Taiwan, Turkey and Ukraine. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period May 26-June 1, 2016.
June 3, 2016 - World Factbook: The Arctic Ocean – the world’s smallest ocean – is bordered by only six countries. Can you name them? Check the Arctic Ocean entry and/or the Arctic Region map (under the references tab) to determine the answer.
May 2016
May 31, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: RS-6 Agent Radio Set
May 27, 2016 - World Factbook: Did you know that The World Factbook is a primary reference used in the National Geographic Society’s Geography Bee? This year’s final, featuring the 54 US state and territory champions – culled from about 2.5 million US students aged 10 to 14, was held this past week in Washington, DC.
May 26, 2016 - Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Nels “Benny” Benson
May 26, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Djibouti, Kosovo, Montenegro, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sweden and Turkey. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period May 19-26, 2016.
May 24, 2016 - CIA Honors its Fallen in Annual Memorial Ceremony
May 24, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: OSS Officer William H. Pietsch, Jr., Mentioned in Dispatch from King George VI
May 19, 2016 - World Factbook: Composed of 155 islands, this is Africa’s smallest country. By far the largest island is Mahe, home to about 90% of the population and the site of its capital city of Victoria. Can you identify the country on the Africa map (under the References tab)?
May 19, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Afghanistan, Djibouti, Ireland, and Kosovo. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period May 12-18, 2016.
May 17, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: An Air Combat First
May 12, 2016 - World Factbook: Did you know that three of the world’s Top Ten Largest Islands are in Canada and three are in Indonesia? To see the complete list of the ten largest islands go to the Geography section of the World listing and scroll to the “Area – comparative” entry. You will also find lots of other Top Tens scattered throughout the World description.
May 12, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Ecuador, The Gambia, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period May 4-11, 2016.
May 11, 2016 - “A Contingency for Every Action”––CIA Intelligence Art Gallery’s Newest Addition
May 10, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Helms Letter
May 6, 2016 - World Factbook: The US Board on Geographic Names (BGN) standardizes the spelling and usage of geographic names – foreign and domestic – throughout the US Government. (The World Factbook closely adheres to the BGN’s naming conventions.) The BGN’s geographers refer to a country’s first order (largest) administrative units as ADM1s. For the US, these would be the 50 states and 1 district. In Canada, the ADM1s are the 10 provinces and 3 territories. There is one Central European country, however, that according to the BGN has 212 ADM1s – referred to as municipalities. This total is easily the largest for any nation in the world. You can determine what country this is by checking out the “Administrative divisions” entry (under Government) for the various countries of Central Europe.
May 5, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Bulgaria, Colombia, Hungary, Israel, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, New Zealand, Somalia, Tanzania, and Vietnam. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period April 20-May 4, 2016.
May 3, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Model of Abbottabad Compound
April 2016
April 29, 2016 - CIA Director's Message to the Workforce: Remembering the Raid in Abbottabad
April 29, 2016 - Minutes and Years: The Bin Ladin Operation
April 29, 2016 - World Factbook: The Kalahari Desert covers a considerable part of this southern African country formerly known as Bechuanaland. Can you name the country? The physical map of Africa under the References tab shows the location of the Kalahari Desert; looking up Bechuanaland under Appendix F: Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names will reveal the country’s current name.
April 28, 2016 - Secret Writing: CIA’s Oldest Classified Documents Released Five Years Ago
April 27, 2016 - Remembering CIA’s Heroes: James Michael Lewek
April 26, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Counterfeit Nazi Stamp
April 22, 2016 - CIA Selects New Privacy and Civil Liberties Officer
April 22, 2016 - World Factbook: Did you know that the name of Canada derives from the Iroquoian word "kanata" meaning village or settlement, while Mexico’s name derives from the Mexica, the largest and most powerful branch of the Aztecs? The World Factbook has added country name etymologies (historical origins); these descriptions appear in the “Country name” entry under the Government section.
April 21, 2016 - Remarks of Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Director David S. Cohen as Prepared for Delivery at the Center on Law and Security, NYU School of Law “Governing Intelligence” Conference
April 21, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Canada, Chad, Indonesia, Kosovo, Madagascar, Marshall Islands, Niger, Portugal, Slovakia, Timor-Leste, and Turkmenistan. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period April 7-19, 2016.
April 19, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Bay of Pigs Patch
April 18, 2016 - The Negotiator
April 18, 2016 - The Bay of Pigs Invasion
April 18, 2016 - Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Ray, Baker, Shamburger & Gray
April 15, 2016 - World Factbook: Milwaukee Deep, the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean (-8,605 meters; -28,230 feet), lies due north of a major Caribbean island. Can you name it? Check the References tab>Regional and World Maps>Central America and the Caribbean map to find the island.
April 12, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Paratrooper’s M2 Pocket Knife
April 8, 2016 - World Factbook: The four white, five-pointed stars on this Pacific island nation’s flag represent its four island groups of Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap. All the islands used to be referred to as the Caroline Islands. Can you come up with the country’s current name? The answer may be found by either referencing the regional map of Oceania under the References tab or by locating Caroline Islands under Appendix F: Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names.
April 7, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Burma. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period March 31-April 6, 2016.
April 5, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: “Belly Buster” Hand-Crank Audio Drill
April 1, 2016 - World Factbook: Only one country’s flag depicts an actual existing building. Can you name it? Check the References tab>Flags of the World to find the answer. Hint: The country lies in Southeast Asia.
March 2016
March 31, 2016 - Statement from CIA on K-9 Training Incident in Loudoun County, VA
March 31, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Bahrain, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Mauritania, Oman and Ukraine. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period March 17-30, 2016.
March 30, 2016 - Studies in Intelligence Vol. 60 No.1 now available on CIA.gov
March 29, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Civil Air Transport Souvenir Bag
March 22, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: William J. Donovan’s Desk
March 17, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Belize, Cuba, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Mauritius and Ukraine. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period March 10-16, 2016.
March 17, 2016 - World Factbook: Can you name the country that is currently thought to hold the largest proved reserves of crude oil in the world? (The answer may surprise you.) To find out, go to the References tab>Guide to Country Comparisons> Energy>Crude oil – proved reserves.
March 15, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Robot Fish "Charlie"
March 10, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Portugal and South Korea. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period March 3-9, 2016.
March 10, 2016 - World Factbook: Do you know what country is the least populous on earth? Check the “Population” field under World entry to find out. Hint: It is also the world’s smallest country by size.
March 8, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Office of Strategic Services Letter Removal Device
March 4, 2016 - Remarks for CIA Director John O. Brennan as Prepared for Delivery at the Navy SEAL Foundation 8th New York City Benefit Dinner (March 3, 2016)
March 3, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Burkina Faso, Denmark, Greece, Japan, Norway and Sri Lanka. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period February 25-March 2, 2016.
March 1, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Blood Chit
February 2016
February 26, 2016 - World Factbook: In the Geography section for all countries, the “Elevation” entry has been expanded to now include subfields for ‘mean elevation’ and ‘elevation extremes’ (including ‘lowest point’ and ‘highest point’).
February 25, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Austria, Chad, France, Iraq, Mauritania, and Mexico. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period February 18-24, 2016.
February 23, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: William J. Donovan’s Belt
February 19, 2016 - World Factbook: The fields in the Energy category for all countries have been rolled forward one year to include data through 2015.
February 19, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Austria, Lebanon, Venezuela, and Taiwan. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period February 12-17, 2016.
February 16, 2016 - CIA Releases Declassified Documents to National Archives
February 16, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Truman Seal
February 14, 2016 - The Spymaster’s Toolkit
February 12, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Argentina, Brunei, Burkina, Faso, Djibouti, Ethiopia, South Korea, and Taiwan. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period February 4-11, 2016.
February 12, 2016 - World Factbook: The fields in the Economy section for all countries have been rolled forward one year to include numerical and textual information through 2015.
February 9, 2016 - CIA Releases Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for 2016-2019
February 9, 2016 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Black Rhythm
February 8, 2016 - Studies in Intelligence Vol. 59 No.4 now available on CIA.gov
February 5, 2016 - World Factbook: Do you know where the Norman Isles are? Check Appendix F: Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names to find the more common name for the isles, the names of the two main islands, as well as their latitude and longitude.
February 5, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Egypt, France, Israel, Laos, Moldova, Qatar, Syria, and Venezuela. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period January 28-February 3, 2016.
February 2, 2016- CIA Artifact of the Week: Office of Strategic Services Silk Escape and Evasion Map
January 2016
January 29, 2016 - CIA Welcomes Former President George H.W. Bush Back to CIA to Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Swearing-in as Director of Central Intelligence
January 29, 2016 - Bush as Director of Central Intelligence
January 29, 2016 - World Factbook: The WHO is a specialized UN agency. Do you know what the initials stand for? When the agency was formed? And what its present membership is? Find the answers in Appendix B.
January 29, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for India, Iraq, and Tunisia. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period January 21-27, 2016.
January 26, 2016- CIA Artifact of the Week: “Studio Six Productions” Logo Items
January 21, 2016 - How To Investigate a Flying Saucer
January 21, 2016 - Take A Peek Into Our “X-Files”
January 21, 2016 - World Factbook: The most common symbols appearing on flags around the world are stars and stripes (horizontal or vertical). Crosses, crescent moons, and triangles are also fairly common. There are only two countries, however, that display the shape of a diamond (also called a rhombus; with all four sides having the same length) on their flag. Can you name these Western Hemisphere countries? Check the References tab>Flags of the World to help you determine the answer.
January 21, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Georgia, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Paraguay, Sudan and Turkmenistan. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period January 14-20, 2016.
January 19, 2016- CIA Artifact of the Week: Pigeon Camera
January 15, 2016 - World Factbook: A new “Citizenship” field has been added to the Government section of all countries describing policies related to the acquisition of citizenship and recognition of dual citizenship. The definition for this field (under the References tab>Definitions and Notes) provides additional information regarding the ways citizenship is acquired. Note that for most countries of the world, citizenship is acquired through descent, known as the principal of Jus sanguinis, where parents must be citizens of a country for their children to acquire citizenship in that country.
January 14, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Israel, Laos, and Venezuela. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period January 11-13, 2016.
January 12, 2016- CIA Artifact of the Week: Persian Gulf War Leaflets
January 11, 2016 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cook Islands, Ecuador, Egypt, Israel, Kenya, Macedonia, Mexico, North Korea, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uruguay, Vanuatu, and Yemen. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period December 3, 2015-January 10, 2016.
January 7, 2016 - New "Accessibility" section has been added to cia.gov under About CIA. There you'll find the Agency IT Accessibility Standards Checklist, which was created to help make sure our IT platforms and web presence are accessible to people with disabilities.
January 7, 2016 - New "Publications Review Board" section has been added to cia.gov under About CIA.
January 5, 2016- CIA Artifact of the Week: Piece of Metal from A-12
December 2015
December 31, 2015 - CIA's Top 15 Stories of 2015
December 30, 2015 - World Factbook: Can you name the African country that is more than 96% desert yet supports a population of over 88 million people – the second highest total on the continent? The answer may be ascertained by going to the References tab, clicking on Guide to Country Comparisons>People and Society>Population.
December 29, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Insectothopter
December 22, 2015 - If You Want a Friend in Washington...
December 22, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Pan Am 103 Lapel Pin
December 17, 2015 - Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Legend of the Jedburghs
December 17, 2015 - World Factbook: In the People and Society section, the “Unemployment – youth ages 15-24” entry has been updated.
December 15, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Woodsman’s Pal Knife
December 10, 2015 - Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Greg Wright
December 10, 2015 - World Factbook: How many fathoms make up a cable (length)? Check Appendix G: Weights and Measures for the answer!
December 8, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Admiral Calland’s Desert Combat Uniform Top
December 4, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Bangladesh, Guatemala, Pakistan, Portugal, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tonga. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period November 25-December 3, 2015.
December 1, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: FBIS Central Eurasia Report Glossary of Selected Russian Social Science Terms
November 2015
November 25, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Peru, Poland, Turkey, Tuvalu, Uganda and Vanuatu. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period November 19-24, 2015.
November 24, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: William J. Donovan’s Saddle Bag
November 20, 2015 - World Factbook: Where applicable, all of the “Constitution” entries were recently updated throughout the Factbook.
November 19, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Bolivia, Canada, Cook Islands, Ecuador, Fiji, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Peru, Romania and Vanuatu. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period November 12-18, 2015.
November 17, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: A-12 Flight Suit Accoutrement
November 16, 2015 - Remarks for CIA Director John O. Brennan as Prepared for Delivery at the Center for Strategic & International Studies Global Security Forum 2015
November 13, 2015 - World Factbook: Under the Transnational Issues > “Refugees and internally displaced persons” field for Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia, estimates have been added for the total number of recently arrived refugees and migrants. While it is impossible to specify how many of these people are refugees or what their country of origins are, these numbers at least present a rough estimate. People will, naturally, continue to keep moving around within Europe and new numbers will arrive, so the totals will be constantly changing. We will update our estimates on at least a monthly basis.
November 12, 2015 - OXCART vs Blackbird: Do You Know the Difference?
November 12, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Canada and Nepal. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period November 5-11, 2015.
November 10, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: A-12 Full Pressure Suit
November 9, 2015 - Remarks for CIA Director John O. Brennan as Prepared for Delivery at the OSS Society Donovan Award Dinner in Honor of Amb. Hugh Montgomery (November 7, 2015)
November 6, 2015 - What do James Bond, Downton Abbey, and the CIA have in Common?
November 6, 2015 - Remarks for CIA Director John O. Brennan as Prepared for Delivery at the National Defense University Foundation American Patriot Award Ceremony (November 5, 2015)
November 6, 2015 - World Factbook: All of the entries in the Energy section were recently updated with the latest available data.
November 5, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for France, Israel, Maldives, Nepal, Portugal, Solomon Islands and Venezuela. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period October 29-November 4, 2015.
November 3, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Radio Receiver Concealment
October 2015
October 30, 2015 - World Factbook: A link to a special Middle East and North Africa Religious Affiliation chart has been set up in the “Religions” entry for 20 countries ranging from Algeria to Yemen. Check it out.
October 30, 2015 - Lyman Kirkpatrick: "Hell on Wheels"
October 29, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for the Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Zambia. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period October 22-28, 2015.
October 27, 2015 - Remarks for CIA Director John O. Brennan as Prepared for Delivery at the Conference on the Ethos and Profession of Intelligence, George Washington University
October 27, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Sculpted Clay Ear
October 22, 2015 - World Factbook: Maritime piracy continues to be a concern in certain areas of the world. While successful pirate attacks have decreased off the East African coast, they have become more widespread off West Africa. Attacks in the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea also persist. Further details addressing piracy may be found in the "Transportation note" under the World entry, as well as under various countries bordering the Indian Ocean, and entries for Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
October 22, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Cameroon, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Laos, Nepal and the Philippines. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period October 15-21, 2015.
October 20, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Digital X-Ray Detector Panel
October 20, 2015 - CIA and George Washington University to Co-Host Major Public Conference on National Security Issues
October 16, 2015 - World Factbook: Can you name the Polynesian island nation that owns the Internet top level domain extension of “.tv”? Consult Appendix D: Cross-Reference List of Country Data Codes and check under the “T” countries for the answer.
October 15, 2015 - Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Michael McPherson Deuel
October 15, 2015 - Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Michael Arthur Maloney
October 15, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Brazil, Denmark, Japan, Jordan, Mali and Niger. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period October 8-14, 2015.
October 14, 2015 - A Day in the Life of a CIA Political Analyst Intern
October 13, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: U-2 Model used by Francis Gary Powers
October 9, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Egypt, Georgia, Haiti, Moldova, Mongolia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, South Korea and Suriname. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period September 24-October 7, 2015.
October 9, 2015 - World Factbook: The Standard Time Zones of the World map was recently updated. Check it out by going to the Regional and World Maps page and scrolling down, or click here to pull up a PDF version.
October 8, 2015 - Virginia Hall: The Courage and Daring of “The Limping Lady”
October 6, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: E Street Complex Sign with CIA Seal
October 2, 2015 - There is a unique large body of water in northern South America that is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela (Golfo de Venezuela) and ultimately the Caribbean Sea by the 5.5 km- (3.4 mi-) wide Tablazo Strait. Although its water is brackish and it is often thought of as a bay, this feature is frequently referred to as a lake. If so considered, it becomes South America’s largest lake (or lago in Spanish). Can you name it? The “lake” can easily be spotted on The World Factbook’s Central America and the Caribbean regional reference map.
October 1, 2015 - CIA Achieves Key Milestone in Agency-Wide Modernization Initiative
September 2015
September 29, 2015 - The OSS Architect Who Designed the UN Logo
September 29, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Office of Strategic Services Pin
September 29, 2015 - Studies in Intelligence Vol. 59 No.3 now available on CIA.gov
September 25, 2015 - World Factbook: Area comparison maps are now available for about half of the countries in The World Factbook! To see the relative size of a country shown superimposed over part of the US, go to the Geography section and check under “Area – comparative” (the fifth geography entry). Eventually, all country descriptions will include these useful and popular maps.
September 24, 2015 - Mystery Writers and Other Surprising Facts About Studies
September 24, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Australia, Belgium, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Israel, Turkey and Yemen. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period 17-23 September 2015.
September 23, 2015 - Studies in Intelligence Celebrates 60th Birthday
September 22, 2015 - Top 10 Research Tips for a Great School Year from CIA Librarians
September 22, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Seismic Intruder Detection Devices
September 18, 2015 - Deputy Director Cohen Delivers Remarks on CIA of the Future at Cornell University
September 18, 2015 - World Factbook: This month marks the 125th anniversary of the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN), an interagency body that standardizes and approves geographic names of domestic, foreign, Antarctic, and undersea features for Federal Government use. The place name spellings used throughout The World Factbook are those approved by the BGN.
September 17, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Armenia, Cuba, Estonia, Haiti, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period 10-16 September 2015.
September 16, 2015 - CIA Releases Roughly 2,500 Declassified President’s Daily Briefs at Event Hosted by LBJ Presidential Library and University of Texas at Austin
September 16, 2015 - Remarks as Prepared for Delivery CIA Director John O. Brennan at the President’s Daily Brief Public Release, LBJ Library in Austin, Texas
September 16, 2015 - President's Daily Brief: Delivering Intelligence to Kennedy and Johnson
September 15, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Civil Air Transport (CAT) Notepad
September 11, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Egypt, France, Sudan, and Sri Lanka. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period September 3-9, 2015.
September 11, 2015 - World Factbook: In the People and Society category, the fields for "HIV/AIDS," "Drinking water source," and "Sanitation facility access" were recently updated with the latest available data.
September 9, 2015 - A Day in the Life of a CIA Leadership Analyst Intern
September 9, 2015 - CIA to Release Declassified President’s Daily Brief Articles at Event Hosted by LBJ Presidential Library and University of Texas at Austin
September 8, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: William J. Donovan’s Distinguished Service Cross
September 8, 2015 - Making Progress on Women in Leadership Initiative
September 8, 2015 - Director's Advisory Group Implementation: Year Two Report to the Workforce (July 2015) [PDF 810.28KB*]
September 3, 2015 - Updated Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments with updated entries for Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Indonesia, Mexico, and Yemen. Changes reflect updates in leadership, positions, or the spellings of officials’ names in the country listings during the period August 27-September 2, 2015.
September 2, 2015 - World Factbook: The “Executive branch” entries for all countries were recently expanded. The subentry ‘elections’ has been replaced with ‘elections/appointments,’ and now includes more detailed information on the selection process for the ‘chief of state’ and ‘head of government’ subentries. The subentry ‘election results’ now includes the name or abbreviation of each candidate’s political party affiliation.
September 1, 2015 - CIA Artifact of the Week: Blood Chit
CIA Launches Signature School Program at The University of New Mexico
