The 2005 CIA World Factbook

"The 2005 CIA World Factbook" by the United States Central Intelligence Agency is a comprehensive reference publication written in the early 21st century. This factbook offers detailed information about countries and locations around the world, including demographics, geography, economy, and notable international issues. It likely serves as an important resource for policy makers, researchers, and anyone seeking concise and current data about global affairs. The opening of the factbook introduces its organization, including sections on countries, field listings, and rank orders of various data points. It highlights notable updates made since the previous edition, such as the addition of new entities, changes in country statuses, and revised maps reflecting updated geopolitical realities. It also mentions new fields of data to enhance users' understanding of contemporary issues faces by nations, such as infectious diseases and economic indices, signaling an effort to provide a well-rounded view of the state of the world. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

The Central Intelligence Agency, known informally as the Agency, metonymously as Langley and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT) and conducting covert action through its Directorate of Operations. The agency is headquartered in the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia.