r an authoritative and coordinated appraisal of strategic basic
intelligence. Between April 1943 and July 1947, the board published 34
JANIS studies. JANIS performed well in the war effort, and numerous
letters of commendation were received, including a statement from Adm.
Forrest Sherman, Chief of Staff, Pacific Ocean Areas, which said,
"JANIS has become the indispensable reference work for the shore-based
planners."

The need for more comprehensive basic intelligence in the postwar
world was well expressed in 1946 by George S. Pettee, a noted author on
national security. He wrote in The Future of American Secret
Intelligence (Infantry Journal Press, 1946, page 46) that world
leadership in peace requires even more elaborate intelligence than in
war. "The conduct of peace involves all countries, all human activities
- not just the enemy and his war production."

The Central Intelligence Agency was established on 26 July 1947
and officially began operating on 18 September 1947. Effective 1
October 1947, the Director of Central Intelligence assumed operational
responsibility for JANIS. On 13 January 1948, the National Security
Council issued Intelligence Directive (NSCID) No. 3, which authorized
the National Intelligence Survey (NIS) program as a peacetime
replacement for the wartime JANIS program. Before adequate NIS country
sections could be produced, government agencies had to develop more
comprehensive gazetteers and better maps. The US Board on Geographic
Names (BGN) compiled the names; the Department of the Interior produced
the gazetteers; and CIA produced the maps.

The Hoover Commission's Clark Committee, set up in 1954 to study the
structure and administration of the CIA, reported to Congress in 1955
that: "The National Intelligence Survey is an invaluable publication
which provides the essential elements of basic intelligence on all
areas of the world. There will always be a continuing requirement for
keeping the Survey up-to-date." The Factbook was created as an annual
summary and update to the encyclopedic NIS studies. The first
classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first
unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was
terminated in 1973 except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer
components. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the
public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The
year 2005 marks the 58th anniversar