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Electronic Briefing Books

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books provide online access to critical declassified records on issues including U.S. national security, foreign policy, diplomatic and military history, intelligence policy, and more.  Updated frequently, the Electronic Briefing Books represent just a small sample of the documents in our published and unpublished collections.

Archive publications also include 20 microfiche collections, 12 of which are now available on the World Wide Web as part of the Digital National Security Archive subscription, and more than 20 books written by Archive staff and fellows.


Recent Headlines

New - February 19, 2011
"Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But "Success" is Possible

Mixed Message of 1950s Air Force Film on a U.S.-Soviet Conflict
New - February 18, 2011
27 Years Later, Justice for Fernando García
Update on the conviction of the Guatemalan police officers responsible for Fernando García's "forced disappearance"
New - February 1, 2011
Fighting for Darfur

U.S. Opposition to International Criminal Court in 2004-2005 Held Up Peacekeeping, Slowed Justice for Genocide Perpetrators
Update - January 21, 2011
Ex-Kaibil Officer Connected to Dos Erres Massacre Arrested in Alberta, Canada
January 11, 2011
The CIA File on Luis Posada Carriles

A Former Agency Asset Goes on Trial in the U.S.
December 21, 2010
The United States and Pakistan's Quest for the Bomb
Newly Declassified Documents Disclose Carter Administration's Unsuccessful Efforts to Roll Back Islamabad's Secret Nuclear Program
November 16, 2010
Cold War Air Defense Relied on Widespread Dispersal of Nuclear Weapons, Documents Show
Deployments Had Dangerous Potential Because of Predelegation Arrangements
November 13, 2010
Justice Department Censors Nazi-Hunting History
Archive FOIA request and lawsuit opens 45 redacted pages; Breakdown of FOI system sparks leak of full 600-page report
October 4, 2010
THE IRAQ WAR -- PART III: Shaping the Debate
U.S. and British Documents Show Transatlantic Propaganda Cooperation
September 29, 2010
THE IRAQ WAR -- PART II: Was There Even a Decision?
U.S. and British Documents Give No Indication Alternatives Were Seriously Considered
September 29, 2010
The United States vs. Rito Alejo del Río
Ambassador Cited Accused Colombian General's Reliance on Paramilitary Death Squads

September 22, 2010
THE IRAQ WAR -- PART I:  The U.S. Prepares for Conflict, 2001

Documents Outline Policy Makers’ Aims for the Conflict and Postwar Rule of Iraq



Europe

The Washington/Camp David Summit 1990: From the Secret Soviet, American and German Files
Documents Show Serious Domestic Challenges to Gorbachev; Bush Tries to Help with Trade Agreement, Not Arms Cuts

The Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, 1990
Fifth Installment of Former Top Soviet Adviser's Journal Available in English for First Time

Cracking open the Soviet biological weapons system, 1990
More from David Hoffman's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy

The Glasnost tours:
Breaking Down Soviet Military Secrecy

Bush and Gorbachev at Malta
Previously Secret Documents from Soviet and U.S. Files on the 1989 Meeting, 20 Years Later

The Soviet Origins of Helmut Kohl's 10 Points
Documents show secret messages from Moscow sparked West German chancellor to announce German unification plans on November 28, 1989

Through Prague to Freedom
The Exodus of GDR Citizens through Czechoslovakia to the Federal Republic of Germany, September 30 - November 10, 1989

Fall of Berlin Wall Caused Anxiety More than Joy at Highest Levels
Secret Documents Show Opposition to German Unification

Afghanistan Déjà vu?
Lessons from the Soviet Experience

A Different October Revolution
Dismantling the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe

The Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev 1989
Archive Publishes Fourth Installment of Former Top Soviet Adviser's Journal

Afghanistan and the Soviet Withdrawal 1989: 20 Years Later
Tribute to Alexander Lyakhovsky Includes Previously Secret Soviet Documents

Jan Palach Week, 1989: The Beginning of the End for Czechoslovak Communism
Documents from Secret Police, Party, and Dissidents Published on Web

Reagan, Gorbachev and Bush at Governor's Island
Previously Secret Documents from Soviet and U.S. Files on the 1988 Summit in New York, 20 Years Later

The Diary of Anatoly S. Chernyaev: 1987-1988

The INF Treaty and the Washington Summit
20 Years Later

Kissinger Conspired with Soviet Ambassador to Keep Secretary of State in the Dark
U.S. State Department and Russian Foreign Ministry Publish Record of Dobrynin-Kissinger "Back Channel" Meetings Based on First-time Access to Classified Soviet-Era Documents

The Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev
Archive Publishes Second Installment of Former Top Soviet Adviser's Journal

Charter 77 After 30 Years
Documenting the Landmark Human Rights Declaration

Solidarity and Martial Law in Poland: 25 Years Later
U.S. Misread Polish Leadership, and Was Unprepared for the Crackdown despite Having a Spy on the Inside

CIA Had Single Officer in Hungary 1956
Declassified CIA Histories Describe Hungarian Revolution as "Undreamed-of"

The Reykjavik File
Previously Secret U.S. and Soviet Documents on the 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev Summit

The Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev
Former Top Soviet Adviser's Journal Chronicles Final Years of the Cold War

The Moscow Helsinki Group 30th Anniversary
From the Secret Files

To the Geneva Summit
Perestroika and the Transformation of U.S.-Soviet Relations

The Secret History of Dayton
U.S. Diplomacy and the Bosnia Peace Process 1995

Alexander Yakovlev and the Roots of the Soviet Reforms

Soviets Planned Nuclear First Strike to Preempt West, Documents Show
New Volume of Formerly Secret Records Published on 50th Anniversary of Warsaw Pact

The Velvet Revolution Declassified
Inaugural Volume of the New Václav Havel Library Publishes State Department Cables from Prague 1989

The 1956 Hungarian Revolution
A History in documents

Uprising in East Germany, 1953
Shedding light on a major Cold War flashpoint 

"Solidarity's Coming Victory: Big or Too Big?"
Poland's revolution as seen from the U.S. embassy

U.S. Planning for War in Europe, 1963-64
Declassified U.S. documents complement recent release of Warsaw Pact war plans

Why There Was No Crackdown on the Revolutions of 1989
New documents from Soviet/East European archives

Did NATO Win the Cold War?

 

Latin America

27 Years Later, Justice for Fernando García
Update on the conviction of the Guatemalan police officers responsible for Fernando García's "forced disappearance"

Ex-Kaibil Officer Connected to Dos Erres Massacre Arrested in Alberta, Canada

The CIA File on Luis Posada Carriles
A Former Agency Asset Goes on Trial in the U.S.

The United States vs. Rito Alejo del Río
Ambassador Cited Accused Colombian General's Reliance on Paramilitary Death Squads

To Save Dan Mitrione Nixon Administration Urged Death Threats for Uruguayan Prisoners
In Response Uruguayan Security Forces Launched Death Squads to Hunt and Kill Insurgents

Landmark Conviction in Colombia's Palace of Justice Case
Declassified Documents Implicate Colonel, Army, in Civilian Killings, Disappearances

Former Guatemalan Soldier Arrested for Alleged Role in Dos Erres Massacre
Declassified documents show that U.S. officials knew the Guatemalan Army was responsible for the 1982 mass murder

Kissinger Blocked Demarche on International Assassinations to Condor States
Rescinded Orders to Warn Military Regimes Days before Letelier Bombing in Washington, D.C.

Bordaberry Condemned for 1973 Coup
National Security Archive Posts Declassified Evidence Used in Trial

Archival Evidence of Mexico's Human Rights Crimes
The Case of Aleida Gallangos

Operation Mexico: Secret Argentine Rendition Program Illuminated by Declassified Documents
National Security Archive Analyst Presents New Evidence to Court in Argentina

Jacobo Timerman hizo Tambalear a la Dictadura Argentina
La Administración de Carter dio prioridad a este caso; la liberación de Timerman estremeció a la Junta Militar en 1979

Operation Sofia: Documenting Genocide in Guatemala
Archive expert presents Guatemalan military document in international genocide case

State Department Cable says Colombian Army Responsible for Palace of Justice Deaths, Disappearances
Document Introduced as Evidence in Trial of Col. Alfonso Plazas Vega

Posada Carriles Built Bombs for, and Informed on, Jorge Mas Canosa, CIA Records Reveal
Proposed Posada for "responsible civil position" in post-Castro government; Declassified Documents identify Posada's Agency Handlers

Conspiracy of Silence?
Colombia, the United States and the Massacre at El Salado

Breaking the Silence
The Mexican Army and the 1997 Acteal Massacre

Brazil Conspired with U.S. to Overthrow Allende
Declassified U.S. Documents Show Richard Nixon and Brazilian President Emilio Médici Discussed Coordinated Intervention in Chile, Cuba, and other Latin American nations "to prevent new Allendes and Castros"

Robert F. Kennedy Urged Lifting Travel Ban to Cuba in '63
Documents Record First Internal Debate to Lift Ban

Fujimori Found Guilty of Human Rights Crimes
National Security Archive Posts Declassified Evidence Used in Trial

Historical Archives Lead to Arrest of Police Officers in Guatemalan Disappearance
Declassified documents show U.S. Embassy knew that Guatemalan security forces were behind wave of abductions of students and labor leaders

Cuba and the U.S.: Road Map on Efforts to Improve Relations Revealed in Declassified Documents
Secret Kissinger Era reports on Ending "Perpetual Antagonism" may hold Lessons for Obama Administration

"Body count mentalities": Colombia's "False Positives" Scandal, Declassified
Documents Describe History of Abuses by Colombian Army

“No se Registró Novedad Digna de Mencionar”
Documentos del Archivo del Terror de Paraguay Desmienten la Fuga de Prisioneros

Trujillo Declassified
Documenting Colombia's 'tragedy without end'

2 DE OCTUBRE DE 1968 - Verdad Bajo Resguardo
On the 40th Anniversary of the Tlatelolco Massacre, Archivos Abiertos offers the most complete account to date of what files exist and what remains hidden bajo resguardo

Archive Expert Testifies in Fujimori Trial
Testimony Explains How Declassified Documents Provide Information on Human Rights Abuses of Fujimori Government

New Kissinger 'Telcons' Reveal Chile Plotting at Highest Levels of U.S. Government
Nixon Vetoed Proposed Coexistence with an Allende Government

Southern Cone Rendition Program: Peru's Participation
Operation Condor Crimes Focus of Italian Indictments

Paramilitaries and the United States: "Unraveling the Pepes Tangled Web"
Documents Detail Narco-Terror Connection to U.S.-Colombia Anti-Escobar Task Force

1978: Operación Clandestina de la Inteligencia Militar Argentina en México

En el 15 Aniversario del Archivo del Terror
El National Security Archive Pone en Linea 60,000 Registros de la Policia Secreta del Dictador Stroessner

Operación Cóndor en el Archivo del Terror

Localizar y detener al Dr. Goiburú
Documentos del Archivo del Terror de Paraguay implican a Fuerzas de Seguridad paraguayas y argentinas en el secuestro

Rendition in the Southern Cone
Operation Condor Documents Revealed from the Paraguayan "Archive of Terror"

Fujimori on Trial
Secret DIA Intelligence Cable Ties Former President to Summary Executions

Che Guevara's Hair Auctioned Off
Scrapbook of memorabilia kept by CIA operative who buried Che renews attention to Guevara's execution, U.S. Role

The Truth about Triple-A
U.S. Document Implicates Current, Former Colombian Army Commanders in Terror Operation

Documents Linked to Cuban Exile Luis Posada Highlighted Targets for Terrorism
Bomber's Confessions Point to Explosives Hidden in Toothpaste Tube that Brought Down Civilian Airliner in 1976

Documents Implicate Colombian Government in Chiquita Terror Scandal
Article by Archive Analyst Featured in The Nation

Pinochet: A Declassified Documentary Obit
Archive Posts Records on former Dictator's Repression, Acts of Terrorism, U.S. Support

The Iran-Contra Affair 20 Years On
Documents Spotlight Role of Reagan, Top Aides

Official Report Released on Mexico's "Dirty War"
Government Acknowledges Responsibility for Massacres, Torture, Disappearances and Genocide

The Robert Gates File
The Iran-Contra Scandal, 1991 Confirmation Hearings, and Excerpts from new book Safe for Democracy

Bombing of Cuban Jetliner 30 Years Later
New Documents on Luis Posada Posted as Texas Court Weighs Release from Custody

The Dead of Tlatelolco
Using the Archives to Examine the Past

Letelier-Moffitt Assassination 30 Years Later
National Security Archive calls for Release of Withheld Documents Relating to Pinochet's Role in Infamous Act of Terrorism in Washington, D.C. on September 21, 1976

On 30th Anniversary of Argentine Coup: New Declassified Details on Repression and U.S. Support for Military Dictatorship
22,000 people murdered or disappeared by military between 1975 and 1978 according to secret Chilean intelligence report

Report Documents 18 Years of "Dirty War" in Mexico
Special Prosecutor: State Responsible for Hundreds of Killings, Disappearances

The Guatemalan Police Archives
Images from Guatemala's secret files of repression

Drugs and the Guatemalan Military
A Report from the Texas Observer

Paramilitaries as Proxies
Declassified evidence on the Colombian army's anti-guerrilla "allies"

Robert F. Kennedy Urged Lifting Travel Ban to Cuba in '63
Attorney General cited inconsistency "with traditional American liberties"

The Posada File: Part II
Posada Boasted of Plans to "Hit" Cuban Plane, CIA Document States

Luis Posada Carriles: The Declassified Record
CIA and FBI Documents Detail Career in International Terrorism; Connection to U.S.

The Negroponte File
John Negroponte's Chron File from Tenure in Honduras Posted

The Secret Pinochet Portfolio
Former Dictator's Corruption Scandal Broadens

The Case Against Pinochet
Ex-Dictator Indicted for Condor Crimes

Kissinger to Argentine Generals in 1976: "If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly"
Newly declassified document shows Secretary of State gave strong support early on to the military junta

U.S. Listed Colombian President Uribe Among "Important Colombian Narco-Traffickers in 1991"
Then-Senator "Dedicated to Collaboration with the Medellín Cartel at High Government Levels"

Lifting of Pinochet's Immunity Renews Focus on Operation Condor
Documents Indicated 1976 Terror Attack in Washington Might Have Been Prevented

After the Revolution
Lázaro Cárdenas and the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional

The Blind Man and the Elephant
Reporting on the Mexican Military

Brazil Marks 40th Anniversary of Military Coup
Declassified Documents Shed Light on U.S. Role

Mexico: Prelude to Disaster
José López Portillo and the Crash of 1976

The Oliver North File
His Diaries, E-Mail, and Memos on the Kerry Report, Contras and Drugs 

Ed Koch Threatened With Assassination in 1976
New book reveals "Condor" agents discussed plan to kill former New York congressman/mayor

Dear Mr. President: Lessons on Justice from Guatemala
The Latest Release from the Archive's Mexico Project

Nixon on Chile Intervention
White House tape acknowledges instructions to block Salvador Allende

The Dawn of Mexico's Dirty War
Lucio Cabañas and the Party of the Poor

Kissinger to Argentines on Dirty War: "The quicker you succeed the better"
Documents show Secretary of State gave green light to junta

Kennedy & Castro: The Secret History
Initiative with Castro aborted by assassination, declassified documents show

Mexico's Southern Front
Guatemala and the Search for Security

The Tlatelolco Massacre
New declassified U.S. documents on Mexico and the events of 1968

The Search for Truth
The declassified record on human rights abuses in Peru

Nixon's Mexico Tapes
Secret recordings from the Nixon White House on Luis Echeverría and much much more

Before Democracy
Memories of Mexican elections

The Corpus Christi Massacre
Mexico's attack on its student movement, June 10, 1971

Human Rights and the Dirty War in Mexico

Operation Intercept
Nixon, Mexico and the perils of unilateralism

Pentagon and CIA Sent Mixed Message to Argentine Military

Double Dealing
Mexico's foreign policy toward Cuba

Argentine Junta Security Forces Killed Disappeared Activists, Mothers and Nuns

Argentine Military Believed U.S. Gave Go-ahead for Dirty War
New State Department documents show conflict between Washington and US Embassy in Buenos Aires over signals to the military dictatorship at height of repression in 1976

State Department Opens Files on Argentina's Dirty War
New Documents Describe Key Death Squad Under Former Army Chief Galtieri

"Montesinos: Blind Ambition"
The Peruvian Townsend Commission report and declassified U.S. documentation

Nixon: "Brazil helped rig the Uruguayan elections," 1971
Documents reveal U.S. efforts to influence Uruguayan presidential election

Freedom of Information in Mexico
Government proposal follows public pressure for transparency

War in Colombia
Guerrillas, Drugs and Human Rights in U.S.-Colombia Policy, 1988-2002

Conflicting Missions
Secret Cuban documents on history of Africa involvement

Peru in "The Eye of the Storm"
Declassified U.S. documentation on human rights abuses and political violence

Shoot-Down in Peru
The secret U.S. debate over intelligence sharing in Peru and Colombia

Public Diplomacy and Covert Propaganda
The declassified record of Ambassador Otto Juan Reich

"Fujimori's Rasputin"
The declassified files on Peru's former Intelligence Chief, Vladimiro Montesinos

New Information on the Murders of U.S. Citizens Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi by the Chilean Military
Newly-declassified documents from CIA, FBI and State Department

The Guatemalan Military: What the U.S. Files Reveal
Archive releases comprehensive report and database on Guatemalan security forces

The ULTRASENSITIVE Bay of Pigs
Newly released portions of Taylor Commission report

The CIA in Latin America
Declassified documents on a "distinguished" career

Guatemala: Colonel Byron Lima Estrada
Declassified documents on former intelligence chief and alleged mastermind behind the Gerardi murder

Guatemalan "Death Squad Dossier"
Army log reveals the fate of scores of Guatemalan citizens "disappeared" during the mid-1980s

Béisbol Diplomacy with Cuba

U.S. Policy in Guatemala, 1963-1993

Mexico: The Tlatelolco Massacre
Declassified U.S. documents on the events of 1968

Chile and the United States
Declassified documents related to the military coup of September 11, 1973

The Death of Che Guevara: Declassified

CIA and Assassinations
The Guatemala 1954 Documents

The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations

 

Nuclear History

"Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But "Success" is Possible
Mixed Message of 1950s Air Force Film on a U.S.-Soviet Conflict

The United States and Pakistan's Quest for the Bomb
Newly Declassified Documents Disclose Carter Administration's Unsuccessful Efforts to Roll Back Islamabad's Secret Nuclear Program

Cold War Air Defense Relied on Widespread Dispersal of Nuclear Weapons, Documents Show
Deployments Had Dangerous Potential Because of Predelegation Arrangements

The Test Ban Challenge
Nuclear Nonproliferation and the Quest for a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

"We can't go on the way we are"
U.S. Proposals for a Fissile Material Production Cutoff and Disarmament Diplomacy during the 1950s and 60s

How Much is Enough? Part II
"Prague Treaty Cuts Are Modest, Real"; Old Cold War Proposals Went Even Lower

Why is "Poodle Blanket" Classified?
Still More Dubious Secrets at the Pentagon

Project Azorian
The CIA's Declassified History of the Glomar Explorer

The Air Force versus Hollywood
Documentary on "SAC Command Post" Tried to Rebut "Dr. Strangelove" and "Fail Safe"

Thirtieth Anniversary of NATO's Dual-Track Decision
The Road to the Euromissiles Crisis and the End of the Cold War
New Documents from the Archive's Nuclear Vault

Nuclear Noh Drama
Tokyo, Washington and the Case of the Missing Nuclear Agreements

U.S. Intelligence and the Detection of the First Soviet Nuclear Test, September 1949

Previously Classified Interviews with Former Soviet Officials Reveal U.S. Strategic Intelligence Failure Over Decades
1995 Contractor Study Finds that U.S. Analysts Exaggerated Soviet Aggressiveness and Understated Moscow's Fears of a U.S. First Strike

"How Much is Enough?": The U.S. Navy and "Finite Deterrence"
A Moment in Cold War History when the Fundamentals of the U.S. Nuclear Posture Were at Stake

The Iranian Nuclear Program, 1974-1978
U.S.-Iran Nuclear Negotiations in 1970s Featured Shah's Nationalism and U.S. Weapons Worries

The Nuclear Emergency Search Team, 1974-1996
Declassified Documents Depict Creation, Capabilities, and Activities of Once-Secret Nuclear Counterterrorism Unit

"The Impulse towards a Safer World"
40th Anniversary of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty

Air Force Histories Show Cautious Presidents Overruling Air Force Plans for Early Use of Nuclear Weapons
From the Archive's Nuclear Vault

In 1974 Estimate, CIA Found that Israel Already Had a Nuclear Stockpile and that "Many Countries" Would Soon Have Nuclear Capabilities

The Algerian Nuclear Problem, 1991: Controversy over the Es Salam Nuclear Reactor
1991 Controversy over Algerian Nuclear Reactor Led Washington to Seek Chinese Assistance in Pressing Algiers to Adhere to Nuclear Nonproliferation Goals

U.S. Opposed Taiwanese Bomb during 1970s
Declassified Documents Show Persistent U.S. Intervention to Discourage Suspicious Nuclear Research

U.S. Intelligence on Russian and Chinese Nuclear Testing Activities, 1990-2000
Prospects of Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Led China to Accelerate Testing Schedule

How Many and Where Were the Nukes?
What the U.S. Government No Longer Wants You to Know about Nuclear Weapons During the Cold War

Nuclear Weapons, the Vietnam War, and the "Nuclear Taboo"
Nixon White House Considered Nuclear Options Against North Vietnam, Declassified Documents Reveal

The Vela Incident: Nuclear Test or Meteorite?
Documents Show Significant Disagreement with Presidential Panel Concerning Cause of September 22, 1979 Vela "Double-Flash" Detection

Israel Crosses the Threshold
Senior Nixon Administration Officials Considered Confronting Israel over Nuclear Weapons in 1969

U.S. Intelligence and the French Nuclear Weapons Program
Documents Show U.S. Intelligence Targeted French Nuclear Program as Early as 1946

U.S. Intelligence and the South African Bomb
Documents Show U.S. Unable to Penetrate Apartheid Regime's Nuclear Weapons Program

"To Have the Only Option That of Killing 80 Million People is the Height of Immorality"
The Nixon Administration, the SIOP, and the Search for Limited Nuclear Options, 1969-1974

The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II
A Collection of Primary Sources

"Consultation is Presidential Business"
Secret Understandings on the Use of Nuclear Weapons, 1950-1974 

National Intelligence Estimates of the Nuclear Proliferation Problem
The First Ten Years, 1957-1967

The Creation of SIOP-62
More Evidence on the Origins of Overkill

"It Is Certain There Will be Many Firestorms"
New evidence on the origins of overkill

The Making of the Limited Test Ban Treaty
1958-1963

1960s "Nth Country Experiment" Foreshadows Today's Concerns Over the Ease of Nuclear Proliferation

North Korea and Nuclear Weapons
The declassified U.S. record

Nixon's Nuclear Ploy
An online companion piece to an article appearing in the January/February 2003 issue of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The Secret History of the ABM Treaty,1969-1972
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 60

First Strike Options and the Berlin Crisis, 1961
New documents from the Kennedy Administration

Eisenhower and Nuclear Predelegation
First declassification of Eisenhower's instructions predelegating use of nuclear weapons

Launch on Warning
The development of U.S. capabilities, 1959-1979

The United States and the Chinese Nuclear Program, 1960-1964
Companion documents to Winter 2000/2001 edition of International Security

Missile Defense 30 Years Ago: Deja Vu All Over Again?
NMD Questions Parallel ABM Debate During Johnson, Nixon Administrations

U.S. Planning for War in Europe, 1963-64
Declassified U.S. documents complement recent release of Warsaw Pact war plans

The Chinese Nuclear Weapons Program
Problems of intelligence collection and analysis, 1964-1972

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Deployments in Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima

United States Secretly Deployed Nuclear Bombs In 27 Countries and Territories During the Cold War

New Archival Evidence on Taiwanese "Nuclear Intentions", 1966-1976

U.S. Nuclear Weapons and Okinawa

Israel and the Bomb

Newly Declassified Documents on Advance Presidential Authorization of Nuclear Weapons Use

U.S. Presidents Predelegated Nuclear Weapons Release Authority to Military Commanders

The U.S. Atomic Energy Detection System (AEDS)

India and Pakistan -- On the Nuclear Threshold


China and East Asia

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Korea?
New Archive Document Collection Sheds Light on Nixon's Frustrating Search for Military Options

Seeing human rights in the "proper manner"
The Reagan-Chun Summit of February 1981

Kennedy Considered Supporting Coup in South Vietnam, August 1963
Newly Declassified Audio Tapes Reveal JFK Saw Only Negative Choices

The CIA's Vietnam Histories
Newly-Declassified CIA Histories Show Its Involvement in Every Aspect of the Indochina War

Fighting the War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973
Air Force Histories Reveal CIA Role in Laos, CIA Air Strike Missions, New Evidence on Nuclear Weapons, Air Force Policy Disputes, During Vietnam War Years

Suharto: A Declassified Documentary Obit

North Korea's Collapse?
The End Is Near -- Maybe

East Timor truth commission finds U.S. "political and military support were fundamental to the Indonesian invasion and occupation"
"Responsibility" chapter published on Web by National Security Archive

U.S.-Japan Relations Declassified
New Web Publication Documents Secret History of Recent U.S.-Japan Ties, 1977-1992

A Quarter Century of U.S. Support for Occupation
National Security Archive provides more than 1,000 documents to East Timor Truth Commission after Bush administration refuses cooperation

North Korea and the United States
Declassified Documents from the Bush I and Clinton Administrations

New Documentary Reveals Secret U.S., Chinese Diplomacy Behind Nixon's Trip
Chinese Marshal Received Top Secret Intelligence Briefing from Kissinger in 1972

Indonesia's 1969 Takeover of West Papua
Document Release Marks 35th Anniversary of Controversial Vote and Annexation

Intelligence and Vietnam
The Top Secret 1969 State Department Study

China, Pakistan, and the Bomb
The Declassified File on U.S. Policy, 1977-1997

Nixon's Trip to China
Now completely declassified, including Kissinger intelligence briefing and assurances on Taiwan

JFK and the Diem Coup
JFK tape reveals high-level Vietnam coup plotting in 1963

North Korea and Nuclear Weapons
The Declassified U.S. Record

Negotiating U.S.-Chinese Rapprochement
New American and Chinese documention leading up to Nixon's 1972 trip

Henry Kissinger's Secret Trip to China
The Beijing-Washington Back-Channel, September 1970-July 1971

East Timor Revisited
Ford, Kissinger and the Indonesian invasion, 1975-76

The Sino-Soviet Border Conflict, 1969
U.S. reactions and diplomatic maneuvers

The U.S. "Tiananmen Papers"
New documents reveal U.S. perceptions of Chinese political crisis

Reconnaissance Flights and Sino-American Relations
Policy developments and a Hainan Island incident, 1969-1970

The United States and the Chinese Nuclear Program, 1960-1964
Companion documents to Winter 2000/2001 edition of International Security

Tiananmen Square 1989
The declassified history

Record of Richard Nixon-Zhou Enlai Talks, February 1972

China and the United States
From hostility to engagement

The United States, China, and the Bomb


U.S. Intelligence Community

Project Azorian
The CIA's Declassified History of the Glomar Explorer

U.S. Intelligence and the Detection of the First Soviet Nuclear Test, September 1949

The Secret Sentry Declassified
Declassified Documents Reveal the Inner Workings and Intelligence Gathering Operations of the National Security Agency

The Nuclear Emergency Search Team, 1974-1996
Declassified Documents Depict Creation, Capabilities, and Activities of Once-Secret Nuclear Counterterrorism Unit

National Security Agency Releases History of Cold War Intelligence Activities
Soviet Strategic Forces Went on Alert Three Times during September-October 1962 Because of Apprehension over Cuban Situation, Top Secret Codeword History of National Security Agency Shows

Out of the Black: The Declassification of the NRO

Update - U.S. Reconnaissance Satellites: Domestic Targets
Documents Describe Use of Satellites in Support of Civil Agencies and Longstanding Controversy

In 1974 Estimate, CIA Found that Israel Already Had a Nuclear Stockpile and that "Many Countries" Would Soon Have Nuclear Capabilities

Space-Based Early Warning: From MIDAS to DSP to SBIRS
Last DSP satellite to be launched tomorrow

The Record on CURVEBALL
Declassified Documents and Key Participants Show the Importance of Phony Intelligence in the Origins of the Iraq War

Declassifying the "Fact of" Satellite Reconnaissance
The Debate and Documents

The Pentagon's Counterspies: The Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA)
Documents Describe Organization and Operations of Controversial Agency and Database

Secrecy and U.S. Satellite Reconnaissance, 1958-1976
Even at Height of Cold War, U.S. Officials Regularly Argued Internally for More Transparency

U.S. Intelligence on Russian and Chinese Nuclear Testing Activities, 1990-2000
Prospects of Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Led China to Accelerate Testing Schedule

The Vela Incident: Nuclear Test or Meteorite?
Documents Show Significant Disagreement with Presidential Panel Concerning Cause of September 22, 1979 Vela "Double-Flash" Detection

U.S. Intelligence and the Indian Bomb
Documents Show U.S. Intelligence Failed to Warn of India's Nuclear Tests Despite Tracking Nuclear Weapons Potential Since 1950s

Eyes on the Bomb
U-2, CORONA, and KH-7 Imagery of Foreign Nuclear Installations

U.S. Intelligence and the French Nuclear Weapons Program
Documents Show U.S. Intelligence Targeted French Nuclear Program as Early as 1946

U.S. Intelligence and the South African Bomb
Documents Show U.S. Unable to Penetrate Apartheid Regime's Nuclear Weapons Program

Electronic Surveillance: From the Cold War to Al-Qaeda
Documents show Ford White House embraced wiretap law instead of claiming "inherent" Presidential authority in 1976 despite objections from Rumsfeld, G.H.W. Bush, Kissinger

The National Security Agency Declassified Update
Internet wiretapping mixes "protected" and targeted messages, Info Age requires rethinking 4th Amendment limits and policies, National Security Agency told Bush administration

From Director of Central Intelligence to Director of National Intelligence

The Spy Satellite So Stealthy that the Senate Couldn't Kill It
Secret Program First Described in Book by Archive Senior Fellow

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, 40 Years Later
Flawed Intelligence and the Decision for War in Vietnam

CIA Whites Out Controversial Estimate on Iraq Weapons
Main Subject of Today's Senate Intelligence Report Remains Largely Secret

The Interrogation Documents
Debating U.S. Policy and Methods

Prisoner Abuse: Patterns from the Past
Cold War U.S. Interrogation Manuals Counseled "Coercive Techniques"

Eyes on Saddam
U.S. overhead imagery of Iraq

The U-2, OXCART, and the SR-71
U.S. aerial espionage in the Cold War and beyond

Science, Technology and the CIA
From satellites to psychics

The Pentagon's Spies
Documents detail histories of once secret spy units

Reconnaissance Flights and Sino-American Relations
Policy Developments and a Hainan Island Incident, 1969-1970

The NRO Declassified
The creation and evolution of America's secretive spy satellite agency

The National Security Agency Declassified
Updated Newly declassified directive governs interception of communications involving "U.S. persons"

U.S. Satellite Imagery, 1960-1999

 

Middle East and South Asia

THE IRAQ WAR -- PART III: Shaping the Debate
U.S. and British Documents Show Transatlantic Propaganda Cooperation

THE IRAQ WAR -- PART II: Was There Even a Decision?
U.S. and British Documents Give No Indication Alternatives Were Seriously Considered

THE IRAQ WAR -- PART I:  The U.S. Prepares for Conflict, 2001
Documents Outline Policy Makers’ Aims for the Conflict and Postwar Rule of Iraq

Secret U.S. Overture to Iran in 1999 Broke Down Over Terrorism Allegations
U.S. Also Misunderstood Iran's Leadership Dynamics in Attempting Exclusive Contact with President Khatami

The Taliban Biography: The Structure and Leadership of the Taliban 1996-2002
Documents Show U.S. Officials Worried Mullah Omar Was Growing Closer to Bin Laden in 1998

Saddam Hussein Talks to the FBI
Twenty Interviews and Five Conversations with "High Value Detainee # 1" in 2004

"Riveting" Account of U.S. Presidents and the Middle East Details Inconsistent Policies and influence of Foreign Leaders
New Patrick Tyler book narrates "A World of Trouble"; Documentary highlights posted on Archive Web site

PR Push for Iraq War Preceded Intelligence Findings
"White Paper" Drafted before NIE even Requested

1998 Missile Strikes on Bin Laden May Have Backfired
Extensive 1999 Report on Al-QaedaThreat Released by U.S. Dept of Energy

U.S. Military Hoped for Virtually Unlimited Freedom of Action in Iraq
Drafting of U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement Began Nearly Five Years Ago

The Record on CURVEBALL
Declassified Documents and Key Participants Show the Importance of Phony Intelligence in the Origins of the Iraq War

Pakistan: "The Taliban's Godfather"?
Documents Detail Years of Pakistani Support for Taliban, Extremists

Iraq: The Media War Plan
Declassified White Paper and PowerPoint Slides on Pentagon's "Rapid Reaction Media Team" for Iraq

TOP SECRET POLO STEP
Iraq War Plan Assumed Only 5,000 U.S. Troops Still There by December 2006

Post-Saddam Iraq: The War Game
"Desert Crossing" 1999 Assumed 400,000 Troops and Still a Mess

New State Department Releases on the "Future of Iraq" Project
New Documents Provide Details on Budgets, Interagency Coordination and Working Group Progress

U.S. Intelligence and the Indian Bomb
Documents Show U.S. Intelligence Failed to Warn of India's Nuclear Tests Despite Tracking Nuclear Weapons Potential Since 1950s

Saddam's Iron Grip
Intelligence Reports on Saddam Hussein's Reign

State Department experts warned CENTCOM before Iraq war about lack of plans for post-war Iraq security
Planning for post-Saddam regime change began as early as October 2001

CIA Whites Out Controversial Estimate on Iraq Weapons
Main Subject of Today's Senate Intelligence Report Remains Largely Secret

Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran
New Volume Reexamines a Seminal Event in Modern Middle Eastern History

The Saddam Hussein Sourcebook
Declassified secrets from the U.S.-Iraq relationship

The October War and U.S. Policy
Kissinger gave green light for Israeli offensive violating 1973 cease-fire

Eyes on Saddam
U.S. overhead imagery of Iraq

Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein
The U.S. tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984

Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Tilt: The U.S. and the South Asian Crisis of 1971

U.S. Propaganda in the Middle East
The early Cold War version

Operation Desert Storm: Ten Years After
Documents shed light on role of intelligence, stealth technology and space systems in the Gulf War

The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup, 1953

20 Years after the Hostages
Declassified documents on Iran and the United States

 

The September 11th Sourcebooks

"No-Go" Tribal Areas Became Basis for Afghan Insurgency Documents Show
Washington's Immediate 9/11 Demands to Islamabad

The Taliban Biography: The Structure and Leadership of the Taliban 1996-2002
Documents Show U.S. Officials Worried Mullah Omar Was Growing Closer to Bin Laden in 1998

1998 Missile Strikes on Bin Laden May Have Backfired
Extensive 1999 Report on Al-QaedaThreat Released by U.S. Dept of Energy

Pakistan: "The Taliban's Godfather"?
Documents Detail Years of Pakistani Support for Taliban, Extremists

"A Comprehensive Strategy to Fight Al-Qaeda"?
Rice versus Clinton on January 2001 Clarke Memo

Government Releases Detailed Information on 9/11 Crashes
Complete Air-Ground Transcripts of Hijacked 9/11 Flight Recordings Declassified

FAA Believed Second 9/11 Plane Heading Towards NY for Emergency Landing
Released 9/11 Hijacking Reports Further Detail Confused U.S. Response

9/11 Commission Staff Report on FAA Failings Published on Web
Document Updates Previous Archive Posting on Censorship of Aviation Warnings Leading up to 9/11

Bush Administration's First Memo on al-Qaeda Declassified
Document Central to Clarke-Rice Dispute on Bush Terrorism Policy Pre-9/11

Volume I - Terrorism and U.S. Policy

Volume II - Afghanistan: Lessons from the Last War

Volume III - BIOWAR
The Nixon administration's decision to end U.S. biological warfare programs

Volume IV - The Once and Future King?
From the secret files on King Zahir's reign in Afghanistan, 1970-1973

Volume V - Anthrax at Sverdlovsk, 1979
U.S. intelligence on the deadliest modern outbreak

Volume VI - The Hunt for Bin Laden
Background on the role of Special Forces in U.S. military strategy

Volume VII - The Taliban File

Taliban File Update: U.S. Pressed Taliban to Expel Usama bin Laden Over 30 Times
Only three approaches in first year of Bush administration

The Taliban File Part III
Pakistan Provided Millions of Dollars, Arms, and "Buses Full of Adolescent Mujahid" to the Taliban in the 1990's

The Taliban File Part IV
Mullah Omar Called Washington in 1998, New Documents Show

Update: The Taliban File Part IV
Pre-9/11 U.S. Attempts to Drive Bin Laden Out of Afghanistan Repeatedly Unsuccessful, Documents Show

 

Humanitarian Interventions

Fighting for Darfur
U.S. Opposition to International Criminal Court in 2004-2005 Held Up Peacekeeping, Slowed Justice for Genocide Perpetrators

The U.S. and the Genocide in Rwanda 1994
The Assassination of the Presidents and the Beginning of the "Apocalypse"

The U.S. and the Genocide in Rwanda 1994
Information, Intelligence and the U.S. Response

The US and the Genocide in Rwanda 1994
Evidence of inaction

Lessons Learned from U.S. Humanitarian Interventions Abroad
Lessons learned from Kosovo, Sudan, Afghanistan, Hurricane Mitch and other operations

 

Government Secrecy

Justice Department Censors Nazi-Hunting History
Archive FOIA request and lawsuit opens 45 redacted pages; Breakdown of FOI system sparks leak of full 600-page report

Why is "Poodle Blanket" Classified?
Still More Dubious Secrets at the Pentagon

Sunshine and Shadows
The Clear Obama Message for Freedom of Information Meets Mixed Results

More Dubious Secrets
Systematic Overclassification of Defense Information Poses Challenge for President Obama's Secrecy Review

The Secrecy Court of Last Resort
New Declassification Releases by the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP)

The Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts
Archive Publishes Treasure Trove of Kissinger Telephone Conversations

Mixed Signals, Mixed Results: How President Bush's Executive Order on FOIA Failed to Deliver - The Knight Open Government Survey
Two Years Later, Freedom of Information Order Still Has Not Produced All That It Promised

The George Polk Case
CIA Has Lost Records on CBS Reporter Murdered in Greece in 1948, and Destroyed FOIA File on Case

The CIA's Family Jewels
Agency Violated Charter for 25 Years; Wiretapped Journalists and Dissidents

Freedom of Information at 40
LBJ Refused Ceremony, Undercut Bill with Signing Statement

U.S. National Archives Web Site Uploads Thousands of Diplomatic Cables
A Major Step for On-Line Research

Pseudo-Secrets
A Freedom of Information Audit of the U.S. Government's Policies on Sensitive Unclassified Information

A FOIA Request Celebrates Its 17th Birthday
A Report on Federal Agency FOIA Backlog

Declassification in Reverse
CIA Removes 50 Year Old Documents From Open Stacks at National Archives

Rumsfeld's Roadmap to Propaganda
Secret Pentagon "roadmap" calls for "boundaries" between "information operations" abroad and at home but provides no actual limits as long as US doesn't "target" Americans

Return of the Fallen
Freedom of Information Lawsuit Removes Secrecy for Flag-Draped Casket Ceremonies

The Deep Throat File
FBI Memos Detail Mark Felt's Involvement in Efforts to Identify Secret Watergate Souce

Nixon and the FBI
The White House Tapes

Bush Administration Claims Presidential Privilege for LBJ Documents
CIA Refuses Release of 35-Year-Old President's Daily Briefs

Return of the Fallen
Pentagon Releases Hundreds More War Casualty Homecoming Images

Uncovering the Architect of the Holocaust
The CIA Names File on Adolf Eichmann

The CIA and Nazi War Criminals
National Security Archive Posts Secret CIA History Released Under Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act

Professor Sues CIA for President's Daily Briefs
Vietnam Expert Seeks Historic PDBs from Johnson Years; Challenges CIA Blanket Policy of Non-Release

Pentagon Censors Chain of Command on Abu Ghraib
Taguba Report Named Names of Abusers and Commanders

Professor Sues Pentagon to Make Public Honor Guard Photos From Dover Air Base
Challenges 1991 Policy to Censor Images of War Casualties' Return

The Kissinger State Department Telcons
Telcons Show Kissinger Opposed Human Rights Diplomacy;
Secretary of State Tapped Own Phone Calls

The Kissinger Telcons
Archive Celebrates Release of Previously Sequestered Telephone Records

The President's Daily Brief
The Declassified August 6, 2001 PDB and More

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
The ten oldest pending FOIA requests in the federal government

The Freedom of Information Act on Its 37th Birthday
Archive features 20 news stories based on FOIA

Dubious Secrets
Declassified documents show excessive secrecy, arbitrary and subjective classification decisions

The Ashcroft Memo
"Drastic" change or "more thunder than lightning"?

Trading Democracy?
Documents from NAFTA's secret tribunals

CIA Stalling State Department Histories
Archive Posts One of the Two Disputed Volumes on Web

State historians conclude U.S. passed names of communists to Indonesian Army, which killed at least 105,000 in 1965-66

The Pentagon Papers
Secrets, lies and audiotapes

The Death Squad Protection Act
Senate measure would restrict public access to crucial human rights information

 

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