International Historical Newspapers: International News in Translation

English translations of non-U.S. media sources. Partial continuation of FBIS.

Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS) was established in March 1957 as part of the United States Department of Commerce's Office of Technical Services, about six months before the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1. Acting as a unit within the Central Intelligence Agency, JPRS staffers prepared translations for the use of U.S. Government officials, various agencies, and the research and industrial communities.

The content in BBC Monitoring: Summary of World Broadcasts (SWB) is classified as “Open-Source Intelligence” (OSINT). Open-source intelligence is the collection and analysis of data gathered from open, publicly available sources to produce actionable intelligence. OSINT is primarily used in government, national security, and policy functions and is of value to analysts addressiing classified, unclassified, or proprietary intelligence requirements. In the case of SWB, the intelligence was directed primarily at the government of the United Kingdom to assist in threat assessment and to support the making of informed policy decisions. In doing this, SWB created one of the largest archives of historical OSINT available. Today, researchers use historical open-source intelligence to interpret and understand events of the past.