Foreign Broadcast Information Service

The Foreign Broadcast Information Service ( FBIS; German information service for foreign news ) was part of the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology in the USA. It had its headquarters in Reston, Virginia.

History

The FBI was established in 1941 within the Office of the Coordinator of Information under William Joseph Donovan. He excelled during the Second World War, among others German propaganda broadcasts, which later led to the charge of treason against some U.S. citizens as Douglas Chandler and Robert Best.

The Authority observed and translated until now freely available foreign media news (Open Source Intelligence) that are distributed alongside the U.S. government to politicians, media analysts and academics.

The Federation of American Scientists in 1997 with a successful campaign to budget cuts for the FBI to prevent. In November 2005, the Washington Post reported that the FBI is incorporated into a newly formed Open Source Center.

Comparable services

• Australia: Office of National Assessments, Open Source Unit, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade English
• United Kingdom: BBC Monitoring English
• China: Xinhua News Agency