The CIA World Factbook was an invaluable reference tool for academics, the USIC, the Library of Congress, FRD, and researchers.

People might dispute figures from a Wiki page, but not the CIA World Factbook.

This is simple cruelty, like the Trumpf junta's decision to stop sharing free AQI data obtained by air sensors on top of State Dept facilities worldwide.

Dummkopf Trumpf also crashed a functioning NASA satellite that was providing weather and climate data to NOAA and the NWS.

The Blunder of it All

a) CIA does not like losing personnel over career mistakes or incompetency. Once a CIA officer or analyst leaves the flock, the CI folks have a harder time monitoring them. Keep them close and still in the family, so to speak. So CIA would move personnel to desk jobs with less potential for harm or to a logistical position at one of their hubs. Or harmlessly updating data into the CIA World Factbook.

b) Moreover from a counterintelligence perspective sunsetting the World Factbook is a mistake. CIA would like everyone on the planet visiting their website. The IT folks at CIA have a "dashboard" for the millions of visitors to their website. Anyone visiting www.cia.gov -- friend or foe -- becomes a "ping" creating a nano-record for future investigations or pattern analysis.