Electronic Briefing Books

New Posting
February 19, 2001
"Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But "Success" is Possible
Mixed Message of 1950s Air Force Film on a U.S.-Soviet Conflict


The "Nuclear Vault" includes all previous and forthcoming Archive Electronic Briefing Books on nuclear weapons policy, cross-referenced with an index. It also includes newly-declassified documents that may be of interest to novices and experts alike.

Click here for the complete index of National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books.

 

Algeria

The Algerian Nuclear Problem, 1991: Controversy over the Es Salam Nuclear Reactor

 

China

The Chinese Nuclear Weapons Program

China, Pakistan, and the Bomb

The United States and the Chinese Nuclear Program, 1960-1964

U.S. Intelligence on Russian and Chinese Nuclear Testing Activities, 1990-2000

 

France

U.S. Intelligence and the French Nuclear Weapons Program

 

India

India and Pakistan -- On the Nuclear Threshold

U.S. Intelligence and the Indian Bomb

 

Iran

The Iranian Nuclear Program, 1974-1978

 

Israel

In 1974 Estimate, CIA Found that Israel Already Had a Nuclear Stockpile

Israel and the Bomb

Israel Crosses the Threshold

 

Japan

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

New Documents on Okinawa Reversion

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

U.S. Nuclear Weapons and Okinawa

 

North Korea

North Korea and Nuclear Weapons

 

Pakistan

Non-Papers and Demarches: U.S. and British Combined to Delay Pakistani Nuclear Weapons Program in 1978-1981, Declassified Documents Show

The United States and Pakistan's Quest for the Bomb

China, Pakistan, and the Bomb

India and Pakistan -- On the Nuclear Threshold

 

Russia and Former Soviet Union

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

U.S. Intelligence on Russian and Chinese Nuclear Testing Activities, 1990-2000

 

South Africa

U.S. Intelligence and the South African Bomb

 

Taiwan

U.S. Opposed Taiwanese Bomb during 1970s

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

 

U.S. Arms Control and Nuclear Proliferation Concerns

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

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

In 1974 Estimate, CIA Found that Israel Already Had a Nuclear Stockpile

The Making of the Limited Test Ban Treaty, 1958-1963

Missile Defense 30 Years Ago: Deja Vu All Over Again?

The Secret History of the ABM Treaty, 1969-1972

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

 

Cold War Crises

Thirtieth Anniversary of NATO's Dual-Track Decision
The Road to the Euromissiles Crisis and the End of the Cold War

Air Force Histories Show Cautious Presidents Overruling Air Force Plans for Early Use of Nuclear Weapons

First Strike Options and the Berlin Crisis, 1961

The October War and U.S. Policy

The Submarines of October: U.S. and Soviet Naval Encounters During the Cuban Missile Crisis

 

Command and Control and Warning

The Air Force versus Hollywood

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

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

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

Eisenhower and Nuclear Predelegation

Launch on Warning

Newly Declassified Documents on Advance Presidential Authorization of Nuclear Weapons Use

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

 

Government Motion Pictures and Documentaries

U.S. Strategic Nuclear Policy: A Video History, 1945-2004

"Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But "Success" is Possible

The Air Force versus Hollywood

 

National Security Policy

"Prevent the Reemergence of a New Rival": The Making of the Cheney Regional Defense Strategy

 

Nuclear Deployments and Delivery Systems

How Much is Enough? The U.S. Navy and "Finite Deterrence"

How Many and Where Were the Nukes?

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

 

Nuclear Intelligence

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

U.S. Nuclear Detection and Counterterrorism, 1998-2009

The Nuclear Emergency Search Team, 1974-1996

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

The Chinese Nuclear Weapons Program

China, Pakistan, and the Bomb

India and Pakistan -- On the Nuclear Threshold

U.S. Intelligence and the Indian Bomb

National Intelligence Estimates of the Nuclear Proliferation Problem

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

U.S. Intelligence and the French Nuclear Weapons Program

U.S. Intelligence on Russian and Chinese Nuclear Testing Activities, 1990-2000

U.S. Intelligence and the South African Bomb

The United States and the Chinese Nuclear Program, 1960-1964

The Vela Incident: Nuclear Test or Meteorite?

 

Nuclear Threats and Nuclear Use

Air Force Histories Show Cautious Presidents Overruling Air Force Plans for Early Use of Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear Weapons, the Vietnam War, and the "Nuclear Taboo"

The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II

"Consultation is Presidential Business"

Nixon's Nuclear Ploy

 

Secrecy Policy

The Secrecy Court of Last Resort

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

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

 

War Plans and Planning

New Evidence on the Origins of Overkill

The Creation of SIOP-62

"It Is Certain There Will be Many Firestorms" - New Evidence on the Orgins of Overkill

"To Have the Only Option That of Killing 80 Million People is the Height of Immorality"

U.S. Planning for War in Europe, 1963-64