Service, Maritime Administration, National Imagery and
Mapping Agency, National Maritime Intelligence Center, National
Science Foundation (Antarctic Sciences Section), Office of Insular
Affairs, US Board on Geographic Names, US Coast Guard, and other
public and private sources.

The Factbook is in the public domain. Accordingly, it may be copied
freely without permission of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The official seal of the CIA, however, may NOT be copied without
permission as required by the CIA Act of 1949 (50 U.S.C. section
403m). Misuse of the official seal of the CIA could result in civil
and criminal penalties.

Comments and queries are welcome and may be addressed to:
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Attn: Public Affairs Staff
Washington, DC 20505
Telephone: [1](703)482-0623
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______________________________________________________________________

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BASIC INTELLIGENCE AND THE WORLD FACTBOOK

The Intelligence Cycle is the process by which information is
acquired, converted into intelligence, and made available to
policymakers. Information is raw data from any source that may be
fragmentary, contradictory, unreliable, ambiguous, deceptive, or
wrong. Intelligence is information that has been collected,
integrated, evaluated, analyzed, and interpreted. Finished
intelligence is the final product of the Intelligence Cycle ready to
be delivered to the policymaker.

There are three types of finished intelligence: basic, current, and
estimative. Basic intelligence is the fundamental and factual
reference material on a country or issue, current intelligence reports
on new developments, and estimative intelligence judges probable
outcomes. The three are mutually supporting because basic intelligence
is the foundation on which the other two are based, current
intelligence helps to continually update the knowledge foundation, and
estimative intelligence serves to revise overall interpretations of
country and issue prospects for both basic and current intelligence.
The World Factbook, The President's Daily Brief, and National
Intelligence Estimates are examples of the three types of finished
intelligence.

The United States has carried on foreign intelligence activities since
the days of George Washington, but only since World War II have they
been coordinated on a governmentwide basis. Three programs have
highlighted the development of coordinated basic intelligence si