Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports, 1941-1996
Rare insight into geopolitics, global relations, political science and history, regional studies, foreign intelligence and much more
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A crucial resource for those seeking to understand events from other countries' standpoints. Digitization...will dramatically expose the breadth and depth of this unique material.
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Julie Linden, Government Information Librarian, Yale University

Quick Facts

  • A unique 20th-century archive for students and scholars of international studies, political science and world history
  • Fully searchable digital edition of the United States’ principal record of political and historical open source intelligence
  • Helps researchers develop a layered understanding of the Cold War, the Soviet Union, China, the Middle East and Latin America

Overview

As the United States' principal historical record of political open source intelligence for more than half a century, the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report is an indispensable source for insights into decades of turbulent world history. The original mission of the FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. Accordingly, it provides a wealth of information from all countries outside of the U.S.—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
 
Available in a single, complete online collection
FBIS Daily Reports, 1941-1996 constitutes a one-of-a-kind archive of transcripts of foreign broadcasts and news that provides fascinating insight into the second half of the 20th century. Many of these materials are firsthand reports of events as they occurred. Digitized from original paper copy and high-quality microfilm, this definitive online collection features full-text transcripts from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, China, Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the Soviet Union. Fully searchable for the first time, this unique digital collection features individual bibliographic records for each report and highlighted events to assist researchers.
 
Translated materials form a distinctive English-language resource 
Without translations, researchers must limit their research projects to primary sources in languages they understand or rely entirely on secondary sources. Translated as needed, these English-language materials—the vast majority of which originated in other languages—constitute a vital resource for students of international and area studies, political science and world history. 
 
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FBIS Daily Reports, 1941-1974

The first module provides national and occasionally local perspectives on topics related to World War II and the Axis alliance, the new Islamic countries of the Middle East, the creation of Israel, the Berlin Wall, colonialism in Africa, the Cold War, the Suez Crisis, the beginning of the Space Age, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, East-West interaction and much more. It also offers views on such figures as Salvador Allende, Fidel Castro, Winston Churchill, Ngo Dinh Diem, François Duvalier, Mohandas Gandhi, Adolf Hitler, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Ruhollah Khomeini, Nelson Mandela, Imre Nagy, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Chaim Weizmann and many others.

FBIS Daily Reports, 1974-1996

In this second module, researchers are afforded intriguing local perspectives on the rise to power of Pol Pot in Cambodia, Deng Xiaoping in China, Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union, Lech Walesa in Poland, Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan and others. Events covered include the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, formation of Sandinista government in Nicaragua, assassination of Indira Gandhi, student takeover of Tiananmen Square, opening of Berlin Wall, freeing of Nelson Mandela, Persian Gulf War, break up of Soviet Union, beginning of Rwandan genocide and much more. FBIS Daily Reports, 1974-1996 is comprised of eight parts: Part 1: Middle East, Africa, Near East and South Asia (MEA, NES); Part 2: Sub-Saharan Africa & South Asia (SSA, SAF, AFR, SAS); Part 3: China (CHI); Part 4: Asia, Pacific and East Asia (APA, EAS); Part 5: Latin America (LAT, LAM); Part 6: Eastern Europe (EEU); Part 7: Soviet Union and Central Eurasia (SOV); and Part 8: Western Europe (WEU).

FBIS Daily Report Annexes, 1974-1996

Like the Reports themselves, FBIS Daily Report Annexes offers international, national and local perspectives on historical events from thousands of monitored broadcasts and publications. Created by the U.S. intelligence community to benefit analysts and policy makers, Annexes were "For Official Use Only". Although a very small number of copies may have found their way into the Government Documents collections of some libraries, no institution outside of the Central Intelligence Agency holds all of the records. These previously unavailable transcripts provide views on Middle East crises and negotiations, the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the secret acquisition of radar systems by the People's Republic of China, and much more. An essential complement to FBIS Daily Reports, 1974-1996, the nearly 7,000 Annexes in this unique collection are an indispensable source for insight into decades of turbulent world history.

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