Recent Headlines

August 8, 2017

1953 Iran Coup: New U.S. Documents Confirm British Approached U.S. in Late 1952 About Ousting Mosaddeq
State Department Temporarily Declined, in Part Because U.S. Was Still Hoping to Reach Oil Deal with Iranian Prime Minister

August 7, 2017

The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II
Updated 7 August 2017, with two extra documents [Documents 91 and 96] on Truman and the atomic bombings

July 20, 2017

The Murrey Marder Papers at the National Security Archive
Legendary Washington Post Correspondent Faced Down Joe McCarthy, Popularized the Term “Credibility Gap”

July 17, 2017

Judge Orders Sep. 8 Deadline for Mar-a-Lago Visitor Records Release
White House Records Still at Issue in Doyle v. DHS

June 15, 2017

Iran 1953: State Department Finally Releases Updated Official History of Mosaddeq Coup
Formerly Secret Documents from State, CIA Provide New Information about Covert Operations Planning and Implementation Plus Contemporaneous Analyses

June 8, 2017

Japan Plutonium Overhang Origins and Dangers Debated by U.S. Officials
Proliferation Risks of Japanese Plutonium Surpluses Troubled U.S. Officials

June 2, 2017

The White House, the CIA and the Pike Committee, 1975
Ford Administration Nearly Triggered Constitutional Crisis Over Congressional Access to Intelligence Community Records

June 1, 2017

How Do You Solve a Problem like (South) Korea?
U.S.-ROK Relations during the Carter Years Faltered over Troop Withdrawals, Human Rights, an Assassination, and a Coup

May 25, 2017

Anatoly S. Chernyaev Diary, 1977
Inside the Central Committee during Brezhnev’s stagnation

May 23, 2017

#WeStandWithCEU
The New York Review of Books Features Full-Page Ad for National Security Archive Publications with CEU Press and ProQuest

May 18, 2017

Chiquita Papers Are Key Evidence in International Criminal Court Filing
Groups Ask ICC to Investigate Banana Company Execs for Facilitating Crimes Against Humanity

May 11, 2017

Chiquita Papers Document over $800,000 in Payments to Colombian Guerrillas
Internal Security Reports Detail Negotiations with Subversive Groups

May 10, 2017

Hungary 1956: Reviving the Debate over US (In)action during the Revolution
Eisenhower’s Caution Broadly Justified, Declassified Defense Department Study Finds

May 3, 2017

Cyber Vault Highlights
40+ Primary Sources Every Cyber Student Needs

May 2, 2017

Chiquita Papers: Uncertainty Fueled Staff Concerns about Payments of Guerrillas and Paramilitaries
Colombia Payments a “Leap of Faith”

April 25, 2017

Agustin Edwards: A Declassified Obituary
Declassified CIA, White House Documents Reveal Collaboration between Chilean Media Mogul and Highest Level of Nixon Administration

April 24, 2017

The New Chiquita Papers: Secret Testimony and Internal Records Identify Banana Executives who Bankrolled Terror in Colombia
SEC Deposition Transcripts Detail Years of Payments to Colombian Paramilitary, Guerrilla Groups

April 14, 2017

Trump Hides White House Visitor Logs
False Claims of National Security/Privacy Risk; 6 Million Obama Visitors Prove Otherwise

April 12, 2017

Stopping Korea from Going Nuclear, Part II
Canada, France, U.S. Cooperated to Halt Seoul's Ambitions

April 10, 2017

Trump Visitor Logs Subject to FOIA Lawsuit
Archive, Knight Institute, CREW File Doyle v. DHS in New York Federal Court

March 22, 2017

Stopping Korea from Going Nuclear
Seoul – Not Pyongyang – Created Anxiety in Washington in mid-1970s

March 13, 2017

In Memoriam Anatoly Chernyaev 1921-2017
Champion of glasnost, hero of Cold War's peaceful end

March 11, 2017

Three out of Five Federal Agencies Flout New FOIA Law
Only 38 of 99 Agencies Have Updated Their FOIA Rules

February 28, 2017

Eisenhower Concluded Neither U.S. Military Operations Nor Popular Uprisings Were Feasible in Soviet-Controlled Eastern Europe, Despite “Rollback” Rhetoric
CIA’s Dulles Agreed: “You Don’t Revolt in the Face of Tanks, Artillery and Tear Gas; Revolutions Are Now at the Top”

February 15, 2017

Top Air Force Official Told JCS in 1971: “We Could Lose Two Hundred Million People [in a Nuclear War] and Still Have More Than We Had at the Time of the Civil War”
Declassified Diary Excerpt and Other Records of Ex-JCS Chairman Moorer Detail Highest-Level Military Deliberations, Including with White House

February 7, 2017

CIA Covert Aid to Italy Averaged $5 Million Annually from Late 1940s to Early 1960s, Study Finds
Previously Unpublished Draft Defense Department History Explores U.S. Policy toward Italy, Spotlights Role of Flamboyant Envoy, Clare Boothe Luce

January 23, 2017

The Last Superpower Summits
New book analyzes detailed transcripts of Gorbachev, Reagan and Bush meetings 1985-1991

January 17, 2017

Operation Condor: Condemned to Life!
Rome Court Concludes 2-Year Trial on Multinational Repression

 

 

Electronic Briefing Books

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

Along with hundreds of EBBs, Archive publications also include the Digital National Security Archive, a digitized library of more than 40 meticulously researched collections compiled by top experts and scholars documenting critical world events from post World War II through the 21st century, and more than 70 books written by Archive staff and fellows.


Europe

Anatoly S. Chernyaev Diary, 1977
Inside the Central Committee during Brezhnev’s stagnation

Hungary 1956: Reviving the Debate over US (In)action during the Revolution
Eisenhower’s Caution Broadly Justified, Declassified Defense Department Study Finds

Eisenhower Concluded Neither U.S. Military Operations Nor Popular Uprisings Were Feasible in Soviet-Controlled Eastern Europe, Despite “Rollback” Rhetoric
CIA’s Dulles Agreed: “You Don’t Revolt in the Face of Tanks, Artillery and Tear Gas; Revolutions Are Now at the Top”

CIA Covert Aid to Italy Averaged $5 Million Annually from Late 1940s to Early 1960s, Study Finds
Previously Unpublished Draft Defense Department History Explores U.S. Policy toward Italy, Spotlights Role of Flamboyant Envoy, Clare Boothe Luce

U.S. Government Debated Secret Nuclear Deployments in Iceland
U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy toward Iceland, 1951-1960

Anatoly S. Chernyaev Diary - 1976
Inside the Central Committee, close-up views of Brezhnev and the Soviet system

The Moscow Helsinki Group 40th Anniversary
Newly published documents show Soviet reversal of prison sentence against founder Yuri Orlov.

The Gorbachev File
British and CIA Assessments, Presidential Letters and Summit Conversations Illuminate Perestroika and the End of the Cold War

Srebrenica conference documents detail path to genocide from 1993 to 1995.
Documents show contradictions between New York UN declarations and ground realities, resistance from member states to back up resolutions with troops and planes, constant reluctance to use air strikes abetted by divisions within U.S. government, allies.

Anatoly S. Chernyaev Diary, 1975
The Uncertain Future of De'tente

Perestroika in the Soviet Union: 30 Years On
Documents show extraordinary achievements, Spectacular missed opportunities.

Project Sapphire 20th Anniversary More than a half-ton of weapons-grade uranium removed from Kazakhstan in 1994.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 25th Anniversary
Documents show accident and contingency, anxiety in world capitals

The Yuri Orlov File
Human Rights Legend and Distinguished Physicist Turns 90.

The Shevardnadze File: Late Soviet Foreign Minister Helped End the Cold War
Politburo Notes and Memcons Detail Surprising Rise, "New Thinking" Candor, Diplomatic Partnerships, and Sense of Missed Opportunities.

Anatoly S. Chernyaev Diary, 1974
Ideological Superpower with Empty Stores.

Anatoly S. Chernyaev Diary, 1973
Brezhnev Elevated Detente over Class Struggle — to the Dismay of his Politburo Colleagues.

The 1983 War Scare: "The Last Paroxysm" of the Cold War Part III
Part III: "Rather Stunning Array of Indicators" of the Soviet Reaction to Able Archer 83 had "A Dimension of Genuineness ... Often Not Reflected in Intelligence Issuances."

The 1983 War Scare: "The Last Paroxysm" of the Cold War Part II
Part II: "Blue's use of nuclear weapons did not stop Orange's aggression."

The 1983 War Scare: "The Last Paroxysm" of the Cold War Part I
Soviet "Huffing and Puffing?" "Crying Wolf?" "Rattling Pots and Pans?" or "A real worry that we could come into conflict through miscalculation?"

The Thatcher-Gorbachev Conversations
Agreement against German Unification, Encouragement on Economic Reform, Argument over Nuclear Abolition.

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan Was Not a Grand Design But a Grand Entanglement Resulting from Faulty Intelligence, Excessive Secrecy, and a Paralyzed Leadership, According to Conference of Former Decision-Makers
Proceedings from 1995 Conference Reveal Soviet Motivations and U.S. Internal Reactions to Soviet Move.

Global Competition and the Deterioration of U.S.-Soviet Relations, 1977-1980
Third World Competition Damaged Superpower Relations at Pivotal Moment, According to Conference of Former Decision-Makers.

Soviet Dissidents and Jimmy Carter
The Transformation of Human Rights into An International Norm.

The Alexeyeva File
Soviet, American, and Russian Documents on the Human Rights Legend.

Anatoly S. Chernyaev Diary, 1972
Soviet government official Anatoly Chernyaev records an insider's view of the Brezhnev era.

The SOLO File: Declassified Documents Detail "The FBI's Most Valued Secret Agents of the Cold War"
Morris Childs Talked to Mao, Khrushchev, Suslov, Ponomarev - Carried Soviet Funds for American Communists (with Brother Jack) - Reported Back to the FBI for Two Decades.

The End of the USSR, 20 Years Later
Moscow Conference Debates Breakup of the Soviet Union.

The August 1991 Coup in Moscow, 20 Years Later
Documents Show Hardliners Tried to Topple Gorbachev but Brought Down the Soviet Union

The Berlin Wall, 50 Years Ago
While Condemning Wall in Public, U.S. Officials Saw "Long Term Advantage" if Potential Refugees Stayed in East Germany

The Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, 1991
Top Gorbachev Adviser Chronicles Final Year of the Soviet Union

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

Chiquita Papers Are Key Evidence in International Criminal Court Filing
Groups Ask ICC to Investigate Banana Company Execs for Facilitating Crimes Against Humanity

Chiquita Papers Document over $800,000 in Payments to Colombian Guerrillas
Internal Security Reports Detail Negotiations with Subversive Groups

Chiquita Papers: Uncertainty Fueled Staff Concerns about Payments of Guerrillas and Paramilitaries
Colombia Payments a “Leap of Faith”

Agustin Edwards: A Declassified Obituary
Declassified CIA, White House Documents Reveal Collaboration between Chilean Media Mogul and Highest Level of Nixon Administration

The New Chiquita Papers: Secret Testimony and Internal Records Identify Banana Executives who Bankrolled Terror in Colombia
SEC Deposition Transcripts Detail Years of Payments to Colombian Paramilitary, Guerrilla Groups

Operation Condor: Condemned to Life!
Rome Court Concludes 2-Year Trial on Multinational Repression

OPERATION CONDOR: Officials of Amnesty International Targeted for 'Liquidation'
Repression in Argentina: Obama Administration Declassifies Top Secret Intelligence Files

CIA Releases Controversial Bay of Pigs History
2016 Change in FOI Law Overturns Agency Stonewalling

CIA: “Pinochet personally ordered” Letelier bombing
U.S. gives documents to Chilean President Bachelet on 40th anniversary

CIA Cover-Up on Chile
Agency Tries to Hide Knowledge of 9/11/73 Coup Plotting

‘Declassified Diplomacy’: Argentina
Declassified U.S. Records Highlight Argentine Military Abuses, Internal Carter White House Debate over Human Rights Policy

Operation Condor Verdict: GUILTY!
Argentine Federal Court Concludes 3-Year Trial on Multinational Repression

Obama Declassification Holds Promise of Uncovering New Evidence on Argentina's Dirty War
Prior U.S. Government Releases Have Detailed Human Rights Abuses and U.S. Policymaking in Chile, Guatemala, El Salvador

Obama Brings 'Declassified Diplomacy' To Argentina
National Security Archive Hails White House Decision to Declassify Intelligence and Military Records on Dirty War

SECRET CIA REPORT: Pinochet "Personally Ordered" Washington Car-Bombing
National Security Archive Seeks Declassification of CIA Assessment in the Letelier-Moffitt Assassinations

Los Quemados: Chile’s Pinochet Covered up Human Rights Atrocity
Chilean Dictator Rejected Police Report Identifying Army Units which Burned Alive Teenage Protesters in 1986

US: Mexico Mass Graves Raise "Alarming Questions" about Government "Complicity" in September 2014 Cartel Killings
State Department Quietly Suspended Aid to Army Unit Responsible for June 2014 Tlatlaya Massacre

OPERATION CONDOR: National Security Archive Presents Trove of Declassified Documentation in Historic Trial in Argentina
Argentine Newspaper, Pagina 12, Highlights Evidence Presented by Archive Southern Cone Project Director Carlos Osorio

LBJ Regretted Ordering U.S. Troops into Dominican Republic in 1965, White House Tapes Confirm; Yet He Insisted, "I'd do the same thing right this second."
Dominican Intervention 50 Years Ago Sparked Mainly by Fear of Communists: "I Sure Don't Want to Wake Up ... and Find Out Castro's in Charge," President Said.

Mexico: Los Zetas Drug Cartel Linked San Fernando Police to Migrant Massacres
Ordered to Declassify Human Rights Information, Prosecutor Releases First Document from San Fernando Case File.

Brazil Truth Commission Releases Report
National Security Archive hails efforts by investigators, victim's families to uncover truth.

FRANK MANKIEWICZ: SECRET INTERMEDIARY TO CUBA
Famous Political Figure Carried Messages from Kissinger to Castro.

25th Anniversary of El Salvador Jesuit Murders
Declassified Documents from 1989 Show Initial U.S. Unwillingness to Consider Salvadoran Military's Responsibility

KISSINGER CONSIDERED ATTACK ON CUBA FOLLOWING ANGOLA INCURSION
"I think we are going to have to smash Castro," Kissinger tells President Ford.

THE YELLOW BOOK
Secret Salvadoran military document from the civil war era catalogued "enemies," many killed or disappeared.

Brazil: Torture Techniques Revealed in Declassified U.S. Documents
Dictatorship-Era Records Given by Vice President Biden to President Rousseff.

U.S. Covert Intervention in Chile: Planning to Block Allende Began Long before September 1970 Election
Nixon Alerted in Advance to Date of Coup, Retired CIA Operative Writes in Foreign Affairs.

Brazil Marks 50th Anniversary of Military Coup
On 50th anniversary, Archive posts new Kennedy Tape Transcripts on coup plotting against Brazilian President Joao Goulart.

CIA Bay of Pigs Secrecy Case Reaches Appeals Court
National Security Archive Lawsuit Seeks Last Volume of CIA "Official History."

From Silence to Memory
Report on the Guatemalan police archives now available in English, with preface by Kate Doyle.

Mexico's San Fernando Massacres: A Declassified History
"Near total impunity" for Mexican Cartels "in the face of compromised local security forces," according to U.S.

Guatemalan Court Convicts National Police Chief
Commander of Infamous 1984 Fernando Garcia Disappearance.

KISSINGER AND CHILE: THE DECLASSIFIED RECORD
Kissinger pressed Nixon to overthrow the democratically elected Allende government because his "'model' effect can be insidious," documents show.

Forced Disappearance in the Dominican Republic
Government Impunity in Narciso González Case Continues after 19 Years.

The Final Battle: Ríos Montt's Counterinsurgency Campaign
U.S. and Guatemalan Documents Describe the Strategy Behind Scorched Earth

Indicted for Genocide: Guatemala's Efraín Ríos Montt
U.S. and Guatemalan Documents Trace Dictator's Rise to Power

OPERATION CONDOR ON TRIAL: LEGAL PROCEEDINGS ON LATIN AMERICAN RENDITION AND ASSASSINATION PROGRAM OPEN IN BUENOS AIRES
National Security Archive Posts CIA, DIA and State Department Intelligence Reports Provided to Argentine Prosecutors

OSCARS: DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS TELL HISTORY BEHIND BEST FOREIGN FILM NOMINATION, "NO"
ONCE SECRET CIA, DEFENSE AND STATE DEPARTMENT RECORDS FILL IN GAPS IN CHILEAN FILM DEPICTING MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO OUST GENERAL AUGUSTO PINOCHET

ALAN GROSS CASE SPOTLIGHTS U.S. DEMOCRACY PROGRAMS IN CUBA
LAWSUIT FILED BY FAMILY YIELDS DOCUMENTATION ON "OPERATIONAL" NATURE OF USAID EFFORT.

Lifting the Veil on Colombia's "Emerald Czar"
Declassified Cable Links Víctor Carranza's Alias to 1997 Miraflores Massacre.

STOLEN BABIES: Argentina Convicts Two Military Dictators
In Unprecedented Testimony, Former US Assistant Secretary of State Confirmed Military Kidnappings of Children of Disappeared Political Prisoners in the 1970's.

Update: The Guatemalan Death Squad Diary and the Right to Truth
National Security Archive Expert Testifies before International Court.

Reagan On The Falkland/Malvinas: "Give[] Maggie enough to carry on..." Haig to Thatcher: "We are not impartial."
New U.S. Documents Show Washington Sided with British in Early April 1982 While Publicly Declaring Neutrality.

The Pursuit of Justice in Guatemala
There are two winds blowing in Guatemala today. One is for justice, and the other is the right-wing outrage that swept retired general Otto Pérez Molina to the presidency in November.

"Godfather" of Colombian Army Intelligence Acquitted in Palace of Justice Case
Gen. Iván Ramírez Led Unit that "Tortured and Killed" Palace of Justice Detainees in 1985.

CHILEAN JUDGE REQUESTS EXTRADITION OF U.S. MILITARY OFFICIAL IN "MISSING" CASE
Capt. Ray Davis Indicted in Chile for alleged role in murder of Charles Horman, Frank Teruggi.

REMAINS OF TWO OF GUATEMALA'S DEATH SQUAD DIARY VICTIMS FOUND IN MASS GRAVE
Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala identifiesthem through DNA.

Who Killed Jaime Garzón?
Document Points to Military/Paramilitary Nexus in Murder of Popular Colombian Comedian

Top Secret CIA 'Official History' of the Bay of Pigs: Revelations
'Friendly Fire' Reported as CIA Personnel Shot at Own Aircraft; New Revelations on Assassination Plots, Use of Americans in Combat

From Silence to Memory: A Celebration of the Report of the Historical Archives of the National Police

Del Silencio a la Memoria: Acto para Celebrar el Informe del AHPN

CIA Sued for "Holding History Hostage" on Bay of Pigs Invasion
National Security Archive files FOIA lawsuit to Force Release of "Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation" on 50th Anniversary

The Chiquita Papers
Banana Giant's Paramilitary Payoffs Detailed in Trove of Declassified Legal, Financial Documents

"Learn from History", 31st Anniversary of the Assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero

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

Japan Plutonium Overhang Origins and Dangers Debated by U.S. Officials
Proliferation Risks of Japanese Plutonium Surpluses Troubled U.S. Officials

Stopping Korea from Going Nuclear, Part II
Canada, France, U.S. Cooperated to Halt Seoul's Ambitions

Stopping Korea from Going Nuclear, Part I
Seoul – Not Pyongyang – Created Anxiety in Washington in mid-1970s

Top Air Force Official Told JCS in 1971: “We Could Lose Two Hundred Million People [in a Nuclear War] and Still Have More Than We Had at the Time of the Civil War”
Declassified Diary Excerpt and Other Records of Ex-JCS Chairman Moorer Detail Highest-Level Military Deliberations, Including with White House

Reagan's Nuclear War Briefing Declassified
Kremlin Leaders Among Prime Targets in War Plan

President’s Daily Brief Spotlighted Soviet Missile and Space Programs in 1960s and 1970s
Daily Briefings Underscored Threats to National Security, Propaganda Value of Rival Programs

Nunn-Lugar 25th Anniversary Shows Cooperative Security Worked
3429 Soviet Nuclear Warheads Outside Russia at End of USSR in 1991; None Blew Up

The Vela Incident: South Atlantic Mystery Flash in September 1979 Raised Questions about Nuclear Test
CIA Panel Found Evidence “Consistent” with a “Nuclear Explosion in Outer Space” But White House Board Later Disagreed

The NUMEC Affair: Did Highly Enriched Uranium from the U.S. Aid Israel's Nuclear Weapons Program?
U.S. Officials in 1960s Believed Americans Had Cooperated with Israeli Intelligence

Soviet nuclear submarine carrying nuclear weapons sank north of Bermuda in 1986
Top Secret Minutes of Politburo discussion show Soviets learned the lessons of Chernobyl

Gorbachev’s Nuclear Initiative of January 1986 and the Road to Reykjavik
Soviet nuclear abolition proposal in January 1986 welcomed by Reagan, set stage for historic Reykjavik summit and the INF Treaty 30 years ago

Unilateral U.S. nuclear pullback in 1991 matched by rapid Soviet cuts
Declassified documents tell inside story of “most spontaneous and dramatic reversal” of the arms race

U.S. Government Debated Secret Nuclear Deployments in Iceland
U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy toward Iceland, 1951-1960

Bikini A-Bomb Tests July 1946
Declassified Documents, Films and Photographs Depict Tests "Able" and “Baker” and Removal of Bikinians

70th Anniversary of Operation Crossroads Atomic Tests in Bikini Atoll, July 1946
Government Films and Photographs Depict Test "Able" on 1 July 1946

Will China Help Pakistan Get the Bomb?
State Department intelligence reports on nuclear weapons issues, 1957-1967, including developments in East Asia, South Asia, and Europe, and the NPT negotiations.

Concerned About Nuclear Weapons Potential, John F. Kennedy Pushed for Inspection of Israel Nuclear Facilities
Atomic Energy Commission Inspectors Gave Dimona a Clean Bill of Health – Twice – after Deliberately Truncated Tours, but U.S. Intelligence Remained Suspicious

Nuclear Weapons on Okinawa Declassified December 2015, Photos Available Since 1990
Interagency Panel Grants Archive Appeal, Also Releases 9/11 and Taiwan Documents

U.S. Cold War Nuclear Target Lists Declassified for First Time
Major Cities in Soviet Bloc, Including East Berlin, Were High Priorities in 'Systematic Destruction' for Atomic Bombings

The 1983 War Scare Declassified and For Real
All-Source Intelligence Report finds US-Soviet Nuclear Relations on "Hair Trigger" in 1983
Alert Air Force General acted "out of instinct, not informed guidance" to Stop Escalation of the Crisis

The U.S. and the Pakistani Bomb, 1984-1985: General Zia, President Reagan, and Seymour Hersh
Declassified State Department Documents Disclose Internal U.S. Government Debate over Whether to Enforce "Red Lines" for Nuclear Activities in Pakistan, and Worries about an Indian "Pre-Emptive Strike"

Kazakhstan and Nunn-Lugar: A Non-Proliferation Success Story
Kazakh-U.S.-Russian Cooperation at Semipalatinsk and Lessons for Nuclear Security

The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II
Updated National Security Archive Posting Marks 70th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Japan and the End of World War II

Iran’s Nuclear Program – Then and Now
Documents from 1970s Presage Issues Surrounding July 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Deal with P5+1

The Gas Centrifuge Secret: Origins of a U.S. Policy of Nuclear Denial, 1954-1960
Beginning in 1950s, U.S. Sought to Control Uranium Enrichment Technology that Iranians Are Using Today

Nixon, Kissinger, and the Madman Strategy during Vietnam War
Nixon Wanted the "Other Side" to Think He and Kissinger "Might be Crazy"; Signalled Moscow and Hanoi By Pushing "So Many Chips in the Pot" to Suggest He "Might Really Go Further" Even to Nuclear Use

International Atomic Energy Agency Lacks Transparency, Observers and Researchers Say
Nuclear Inspection Agency Demands Transparency from Others, but Not Itself

The U.S. Discovery of Israel's Secret Nuclear Project
Israeli Cover Stories about the Dimona Reactor Dismayed Top Level Officials Who Saw a "Clearly Apparent Lack of Candor."

New Memoir by Participant in U.S. H-Bomb Program Sheds Light on the Making of the First Test Device
First-Hand Perspectives on Edward Teller and Other Leading Figures, and on Dispute over Who Originated Key Idea of Radiation Implosion.

Newly Released Sandia Labs Film Presents Story of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Safety Effort
Los Alamos Scientist Once Advised a U.S. Sentry to Shoot at and Disable Nukes on West German Aircraft if There Was a Danger of Unauthorized Use.

Intelligence Center Tracks Missile Launches Worldwide 24/7
"Little known" DEFSMAC Created to Cover Soviet Launches, Now Alerts and Reports Globally from China to South Africa.

China's Advance toward Nuclear Status in Early 1960s Held Surprises for U.S. Analysts, Generated Conflicting Opinions about the Potential Dangers
Previous Attempts to Assess Developments Were Hampered by Inadequate Intelligence

Israel Crosses the Threshold II
The Nixon Administration Debates the Emergence of the Israeli Nuclear Program.

Studies by Once Top Secret Government Entity Portrayed Terrible Costs of Nuclear War
After Briefing on Likely Death Tolls, JFK Remarked: "And We Call Ourselves the Human Race."

New Details on the 1961 Goldsboro Nuclear Accident
Multi-Megaton Bomb Was Virtually "Armed" When It Crashed to Earth in North Carolina, Sandia Lab Report Concluded.

Declassified Documents Show Henry Kissinger's Major Role in the 1974 Initiative That Created the Nuclear Suppliers Group
Kissinger Favored Efforts to Curb Nuclear Proliferation in Concert with Other Powers, But Did Not Want U.S. to "Go Charging Around the World, Like Don Quixote"

60th Anniversary of Castle BRAVO Nuclear Test, the Worst Nuclear Test in U.S. History
Blast Had Far Greater Explosive Yield than Expected, Equivalent to 1,000 Hiroshimas.

Dubious Secrets of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Defense Department Deletes Khrushchev's Public Statements about Jupiter Missiles in Turkey.

Proliferation Watch: U.S. Intelligence Assessments of Potential Nuclear Powers, 1977-2001
First Publication of Recently Declassified Satellite Photographs of South African Nuclear Test Site--1977.

Last Nuclear Weapons Left Cuba in December 1962
Soviet Military Documents Provide Detailed Account of Cuban Missile Crisis Deployment and Withdrawal.

Nunn-Lugar Revisited
Documents detail "proliferation in reverse" success story.

Pakistan's Illegal Nuclear Procurement Exposed in 1987
Arrest of Arshed Pervez Sparked Reagan Administration Debate over Sanctions.

Every Nuclear-Tipped Missile is an "Accident Waiting to Happen"
New History of Nuclear Weapons Control (and Lack Thereof) Cites National Security Archive Documents on War Plans, Nuclear Accidents, and Command Systems.

The Limited Test Ban Treaty - 50 Years Later: New Documents Throw Light on Accord Banning Atmospheric Nuclear Testing
State Department Officials Pointed to Soviet "Technical Violations" but "Gentlemen's Agreement" Spared Both Superpowers Public Criticisms over Possible Breaches.

The Israel-Argentina Yellowcake Connection
Previously Secret Documents Show That Canadian Intelligence Discovered That Israel Purchased Yellowcake from Argentines during 1963-1964.

China May Have Helped Pakistan Nuclear Weapons Design, Newly Declassified Intelligence Indicates
CIA in 1977 Correctly Estimated South Africa Could Produce Enough Weapons-Grade Uranium "to Make Several Nuclear Devices Per Year."

U.S. Detected Indian Nuclear Test Preparations in 1995, but Photo Evidence was "Clear As Mud"
Documents Reveal Washington's Uncertainty Over Whether Prime Minister Rao Had Approved a Test, but Eventually State Department Intelligence Predicted a Non-Test.

U.S. Had Plans for "Full Nuclear Response" In Event President Killed or Disappeared during an Attack on the United States
Both USSR and China Were To Be Targeted Simultaneously, Even If Attack Were Conventional or Accidental, and Regardless of Who Was Responsible.

Declassified Pentagon History Provides Hair-Raising Scenarios of U.S. Vulnerabilities to Nuclear Attack through 1970s
Study Specifically Addresses U.S. Strategic Command-Control-and-Communications [C3] Systems.

Declassified 1964 National Intelligence Estimate Predicts India's Bomb But Not Israel's
New Release Reports Country-by-Country Nuclear Capabilities, Fresh Data on Global Proliferation Trends in Mid-1960s.

Mikoyan's "Mission Impossible" in Cuba: New Soviet Evidence on the Cuban Missile Crisis

The Underwater Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Submarines and the Risk of Nuclear War

Cuban Missile Crisis Day by Day: From the Pentagon's "Sensitive Records"
Secret Notes by Deputy Secretary Roswell Gilpatric Show Early Interest in Trade of U.S. Jupiter Missiles for Soviet Missile in Cuba, Even a Status Change for Guantanamo, as Basis of a Settlement, Presaging Elements of the Secret Deal that Helped End the Crisis.

Pentagon Estimated 18,500 U.S. Casualties in Cuba Invasion 1962, But If Nukes Launched, "Heavy Losses" Expected
Gen. Taylor Proposed Major Retaliation if Cubans "Foolhardy" Enough to Try to Repel U.S. Invasion with Nuclear Weapons.

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS REVELATIONS: KENNEDY'S SECRET APPROACH TO CASTRO
DECLASSIFIED RFK DOCUMENTS YIELD NEW INFORMATION ON BACK-CHANNEL TO FIDEL CASTRO TO AVOID NUCLEAR WAR.

The Soviet Cuban Missile Crisis: Castro, Mikoyan, Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Missiles of November
Mikoyan Archive Reveals Cuba a Near-Nuclear Power. New Book Shows Crisis Unresolved Until November 22, 1962.

Jimmy Carter's Controversial Nuclear Targeting Directive PD-59 Declassified
Designed to Give President More Choices in Nuclear Conflict than "All-Out Spasm War".

Nuclear Terrorism: How Big a Threat?
Documents Trace U.S. Nuclear Counter-Terror Efforts.

Early Atomic Energy Commission Studies Show Concern over Gas Centrifuge Proliferation risk
It would "Not be too Difficult" to Build a Secret Plant to Produce Highly Enriched Uranium, AEC warned.

Mighty Derringer
U.S. Nuclear Terrorism Exercise Leaves Indianapolis in "Ruins."

The 3 A.M. Phone Call
False Warnings of Soviet Missile Attacks during 1979-80 Led to Alert Actions for U.S. Strategic Forces.

The Nixon Administration and the Indian Nuclear Program, 1972-1974
U.S. Post-Mortem on 1974 Indian Test Criticized Intelligence Community Performance for "Waffling Judgments" and Not Following Up Leads.

U.S. Strategic Nuclear Policy: A Video History, 1945-2004
Sandia Labs Historical Video Documents History of U.S. Strategic Nuclear Policy.

"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

The Murrey Marder Papers at the National Security Archive
Legendary Washington Post Correspondent Faced Down Joe McCarthy, Popularized the Term “Credibility Gap”

Japan Plutonium Overhang Origins and Dangers Debated by U.S. Officials
Proliferation Risks of Japanese Plutonium Surpluses Troubled U.S. Officials

Secret South Korean Nuclear Weapons Program Created Anxiety in Washington in Mid-1970s
Ford Administration Sought to “Inhibit … Development of a Nuclear Explosive Capability;” South Korean Officials Initially Resisted

China's Advance toward Nuclear Status in Early 1960s Held Surprises for U.S. Analysts, Generated Conflicting Opinions about the Potential Dangers
Previous Attempts to Assess Developments Were Hampered by Inadequate Intelligence
.

The United States and the Two Koreas, Part II: 1969-2010
Fears, Suspicions and Frustrations Arising from 1990s North Korean Nuclear Crisis Are Spotlighted in New Documents Publication.

Tiananmen at 25 Years
Chinese Military Was Split over Bloody Suppression of 1989 Student Protests, DIA Reported.

USS Pueblo: LBJ Considered Nuclear Weapons, Naval Blockade, Ground Attacks in Response to 1968 North Korean Seizure of Navy Vessel, Documents Show
NSA Initially Downplayed Potential Damage from Capture of Sensitive Encryption Equipment from Spy Ship.

THE DIEM COUP AFTER 50 YEARS
JOHN F. KENNEDY AND SOUTH VIETNAM, 1963.

Reading the North Korean Tea Leaves: The Perpetual Struggle to Fathom Pyongyang's Motives and Goals
"Brinkmanship" Seen As a "Mainstay of the North's Negotiating Repertoire," Say State Department Records.

U.S. Officials Hoped Chinese Liberalization Program for Tibet in Early 1980s Would Bring Significant Improvements
Declassified Embassy Cables Assess Rationales for Beijing's Short-Lived Policy and Reasons for Its Collapse

Japan and the United States from Kennedy to Clinton
New National Security Archive Publication Makes Available 900 Formerly Classified Documents.

Cracking a Vietnam War Mystery
New book, Marigold: The Lost Chance for Peace in Vietnam, uses long-hidden communist sources to explore a potential missed opportunity for peace in 1966.

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


Cyber Vault Highlights
40+ Primary Sources Every Cyber Student Needs

Inside Able Archer 83, the Nuclear War Game that Put U.S.-Soviet Relations on "Hair Trigger"
New Book Publishes Former Top Secrets from CIA, NATO, and Soviet Politburo

Oscars: "Bridge Of Spies," The Sequel
'Meta-diplomat' James Donovan, subject of best film nomination, undertook second dramatic mission in Cuba

Soviet Politburo Discussed Billion-Dollar Spy
1986 Transcript Includes KGB Chief and Gorbachev Comments

The United States and Cyberspace: Military Organization, Policies, and Activities
The focus on cyberspace has increased dramatically in recent years – as illustrated by the increasing production of documents on the subject.

DIA Declassified: A Sourcebook
Web Posting Spotlights 50+ Year History of Secretive Defense Intelligence Agency

President's Daily Briefs from Kennedy and Johnson Finally Released (Eight Years After Archive, Professor Larry Berman Lawsuit)
CIA Told Courts the PDB Was Itself an Intelligence Method

The Anwar al-Awlaki File
From American Citizen to Imam to Terrorist to Drone Killing

Overhead Imagery: The U.S. Target
New Documents Trace Controversial Use of Drones and other Aerial Surveillance for Domestic National Security – from Safeguarding Major Sporting Events to Law Enforcement to Tracking Wildfires

The Kissinger Telcons: New Documents Throw Light on Sensitive Ford and Kissinger Views
President Ford “Offended”, Kissinger “Almost Blind with Rage” over Israeli Behavior during 1975 Talks over Sinai

White House Efforts to Blunt 1975 Church Committee Investigation into CIA Abuses Foreshadowed Executive-Congressional Battles after 9/11
Advisers to President Ford Sought to Protect CIA's Image Abroad by Having Its Capabilities "Cloaked in Mystery and Held in Awe"

The Pentagon's Spies
Newly Available Documents Trace Evolution of Spy Units through Obama Administration.

NASA's Secret Relationships with U.S. Defense and Intelligence Agencies
Declassified Records Trace the Many Hidden Interactions Between the U.S. Civilian and National Security Space Programs.

The CIA and Signals Intelligence
Formerly Top-Secret Multi-Volume History Details Spy Agency’s Conflicts with NSA and Military over SIGINT Role.

Archive Sues State Department Over Kissinger Telcons
700 Transcripts Still Withheld, Eight Years after Appeal.

The Merchant of Death's Account Book
Declassified Documents Reveal More Information on Government's Opportunistic Relationship with Arms Smuggler Sarkis Soghanalian.

U.S. INTELLIGENCE AND THE SOVIET SPACE PROGRAM
Declassified Records Trace U.S. Monitoring and Analyses of a Critical Area of Cold War Competition.

National Security Archive and Historical Associations File Petition To Open Key Remaining Rosenberg Grand Jury Records
Death of David Greenglass Removes Legal Barrier; 2008 Release Included Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Testimony.

Studies in Intelligence: New Articles from The CIA's In-House Journal
CIA Reactions to JFK Assassination Included Fear of Possible Soviet Strike against U.S.; Desire to "Bond" with LBJ.

Predator: The Secret Origins of the Drone Revolution

Soldiers, Spies and the Moon: Secret U.S. and Soviet Plans from the 1950s and 1960s
Declassified Documents Reflect the Covert Side of Lunar Programs.

The Area 51 File: Secret Aircraft and Soviet MiGs
Declassified Documents Describe Stealth Facility in Nevada.

"Disreputable if Not Outright Illegal": The National Security Agency versus Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, Art Buchwald, Frank Church, et al.
Newly Declassified History Divulges Names of Prominent Americans Targeted by NSA during Vietnam Era.

Underground Facilities: Intelligence and Targeting Issues UPDATE OF MARCH 23, 2012 POSTING
U.S. Intelligence: Hiding of Military Assets by "Rogue Nations" and Other States a Major Security Challenge for 21st Century.

The Snowden Affair
Web Resource Documents the Latest Firestorm over the National Security Agency.

The Secret History of the U-2
US Spy Planes Targeted China to Help India; Used British Crews to "Confuse the Soviets" and Overflew French Nuclear Sites.

Studies in Intelligence: New Articles from The CIA's In-House Journal
Unofficial Intelligence Community Views on Assassinations, James Angleton's 'Monster Plot,' Agent Protection, and More.

National Security Agency Tasked with Targeting Adversaries' Computers for Attack Since Early 1997, According to Declassified Document
"The Future of Warfare Is Warfare in Cyberspace," NSA Declared

The Jonathan Pollard Spy Case: The CIA's 1987 Damage Assessment Declassified
New Details on What Secrets Israel Asked Pollard to Steal.

Declassified Documents Trace U.S. Policy Shifts on Use of Commercial Satellite Imagery from 1970s to Today
Lack of Control over Foreign Developments, Desire to Promote American Firms, and Potential Benefits Vied with National Security Concerns.

Lifting the Veil on NRO Satellite Systems and Ground Stations
Documents Trace Effort to Declassify the Operations of America's Intelligence Satellite Agency.

Documenting the FBI: Declassified Documents Provide New Detail on Confronting the Terrorist Threat – from al-Qaeda to Skinheads
New Archive Posting Opens Window into Broad Range of Recent FBI Operations.

Underground Facilities: Intelligence and Targeting Issues
U.S. Intelligence : Hiding of Military Assets by "Rogue Nations" and Other States a Major Security Challenge for 21st Century
.

INTEL WARS
The Lessons for U.S. Intelligence From Today's Battlefields.

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 UPDATED AUGUST 5, 2013
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

1953 Iran Coup: New U.S. Documents Confirm British Approached U.S. in Late 1952 About Ousting Mosaddeq
State Department Temporarily Declined, in Part Because U.S. Was Still Hoping to Reach Oil Deal with Iranian Prime Minister

Iran 1953: State Department Finally Releases Updated Official History of Mosaddeq Coup
Formerly Secret Documents from State, CIA Provide New Information about Covert Operations Planning and Implementation Plus Contemporaneous Analyses

U.S., Britain Developed Plans to Disable or Destroy Middle Eastern Oil Facilities from Late 1940s to Early 1960s in Event of a Soviet Invasion
British Plans Envisioned Using Nuclear Weapons as an Option in Iran and Iraq, According to Declassified Documents

Iran’s Nuclear Program – Then and Now
Documents from 1970s Presage Issues Surrounding July 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Deal with P5+1

Iran-Contra Revisited
New Book Places Reagan at Center of 1980s Scandal.

Iran 1953: US Envoy to Baghdad Suggested to Fleeing Shah He Not Acknowledge Foreign Role in Coup
Shah "Agreed," Declassified Cable Says.

The Battle for Iran, 1953: Re-Release of CIA Internal History Spotlights New Details about anti-Mosaddeq Coup
U.S. Ambassador Loy Henderson and Some CIA Officials Initially Disagreed with Certain Premises of Coup Planners.

Iran 1953: The Strange Odyssey of Kermit Roosevelt's Countercoup
CIA Approved Ex-Agent's Memoir of "28 Mordad" Coup After Changes Rendered It "Essentially a Work of Fiction."

Iran-Contra: Lawrence Walsh's Contribution to History
Independent Counsel Uncovered Presidential Abuses, Left Invaluable Historical Record.

CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup
Documents Provide New Details on Mosaddeq Overthrow and Its Aftermath.

The Iraq War Ten Years After
Declassified Documents Show Failed Intelligence, Policy Ad Hockery, Propaganda-Driven Decision-Making

State Department Intelligence and Research Predicted 1973 Arab-Israeli War
Key INR Memo Published for the First Time

SOVIET INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN A CASE OF MISSION CREEP, ACCORDING TO NEW BOOK AND ORIGINAL SOVIET DOCUMENTS
THE DEAD END PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME.

U.S.-Iran: Lessons from an Earlier War
New Book—Becoming Enemies—Explores Roots of the Current Crisis with Iran.

New Documents Spotlight Reagan-era Tensions over Pakistani Nuclear Program
Findings that General Zia Had "Lied" About Pakistani Nuclear Activities Conflicted with U.S. Afghanistan Priority.

IRAN CONTRA AT 25: REAGAN AND BUSH 'CRIMINAL LIABILITY' EVALUATIONS
Presidential 'Exposure' and roles detailed in Special Prosecutor Reports.

Secret U.S. Message to Mullah Omar: "Every Pillar of the Taliban Regime Will Be Destroyed"
New Documents Detail America's Strategic Response to 9/11

The Osama Bin Laden File
Pakistan's Bin Laden Policy
Declassified Documents Show Pakistani Refusal to Help Apprehend Terrorist before 9/11

The Osama Bin Laden File

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-Qaeda Threat 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

The Zero Dark Thirty File
Lifting The Government's Shroud Over the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden

The Haqqani History: Bin Ladin's Advocate Inside the Taliban
New Documents – Posted on 9/11 Anniversary – Offer Partial View Inside Newly-Dubbed Terrorist Network.

The Central Intelligence Agency's 9/11 File
Top Secret CIA Documents on Osama bin Laden Declassified.

The Osama Bin Laden File
Pakistan's Bin Laden Policy
Declassified Documents Show Pakistani Refusal to Help Apprehend Terrorist before 9/11

The Osama Bin Laden File

"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

Echoes of the 1956 Hungarian Revolt in Romania, 60 Years After
Romanian Students Organized Meetings – Authorities Were Quick to Crack Down, Romanian and U.S. Documents Show

Road to Dayton paved with genocide
International passivity, lack of support for peacekeepers doomed Srebrenica 20 years ago; 8,000 Muslim refugees died

Los Quemados: Chile’s Pinochet Covered up Human Rights Atrocity
Chilean Dictator Rejected Police Report Identifying Army Units which Burned Alive Teenage Protesters in 1986

Srebrenica conference documents detail path to genocide from 1993 to 1995.
Documents show contradictions between New York UN declarations and ground realities, resistance from member states to back up resolutions with troops and planes, constant reluctance to use air strikes abetted by divisions within U.S. government, allies.

Rwanda Pullout Driven by Clinton White House, U.N. Equivocation
White House Clears E-Mail Release and Susan Rice Hand-written Notes.

Rwanda Re-Examined
"Unprecedented" 2014 Conference Illuminates International Response (and Lack Thereof) to Genocide.

Key Diplomat's Personal Notebook Sheds Light on Inner Workings of US Government Response to Genocide Unfolding in Rwanda in 1994
Ambassador Prudence Bushnell provides unique window into the making of US Foreign Policy during the Rwandan Genocide.

Inside the UN Security Council: April–July 1994
United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Czech Republic Declassified Documents Reveal New Perspectives on United Nations Security Council Debates on Rwanda in April 1994.

Rwanda: The Failure of the Arusha Peace Accords
International Community's Lack of Support for Military Demobilization and Rwandans' Inability to Implement Accords Led to Genocide in 1994.

Sitreps Detail Rwanda's Descent into Genocide 1994
Complete Collection of Peacekeepers' Situation Reports from Rwanda to UN Headquarters in New York — from the Mission's Inception in October 1993 through the End of the Genocide in July 1994.

The Rwandan Refugee Crisis: Before the Genocide

THE RWANDAN CRISIS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF FRANCE
PART ONE: LEADUP TO THE GENOCIDE.

Warnings of Catastrophe
French, US, UN, and Belgian Documents Foreshadow the Genocide in Rwanda 1994.

The Rwanda Sitreps
Daily Pleas to New York Detail How International Failure Left Peacekeepers Ill-Equipped to Respond to Rising Violence in January 1994

The Rwanda "Genocide Fax": What We Know Now
New Documentation Paints Complex Picture of Informant and his Warnings.

Freedom of Information Follies: FOIA Reviewers Declassify Same Rwanda Document Four Times, Creating New Secrets Each Time

Taylor Verdict Milestone for International Justice
Liberian Warlord Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity During Sierra Leone's Civil War.

Darfur "genocide" had no "legal consequences" for U.S.
New article in The Atlantic contrasts Darfur memo with 1994 finding that application of term to Rwanda would force U.S. "to actually 'do something'"

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

Judge Orders Sep. 8 Deadline for Mar-a-Lago Visitor Records Release
White House Records Still at Issue in Doyle v. DHS

Trump Hides White House Visitor Logs
False Claims of National Security/Privacy Risk; 6 Million Obama Visitors Prove Otherwise

Trump Visitor Logs Subject to FOIA Lawsuit
Archive, Knight Institute, CREW File Doyle v. DHS in New York Federal Court

Three out of Five Federal Agencies Flout New FOIA Law
Only 38 of 99 Agencies Have Updated Their FOIA Rules

FOIA@250: World’s First Freedom of Information Act Dates to 1766
The Enduring Legacy of Finland’s Anders Chydenius

The Iran-Contra Affair 30 Years Later: A Milestone in Post-Truth Politics
Declassified Records Recall Official Deception in the Name of Protecting a Presidency

International Right to Know Day Impact Stories
14th Annual Celebration Highlights Access Laws Across the Globe

Did Nixon Even Read the CIA's Daily Briefs?
Nixon's Attention Focused on Kissinger's Cover Memos That Packaged the PDB

Gerald Ford White House Suppressed, Altered Assassination Section of Rockefeller Commission Report in 1975
White House Aide Dick Cheney Spearheaded Editing of Report to Dampen Impact

U.S. Climate Change Policy in the 1980s
GOP Presidents Recognized Need for U.S. Leadership on Ozone Depletion and Climate Change

Washington Post Op-Ed Highlights Dubious Secrets
Clinton e-mails "Potentially Classified"; So Is This Posting

Most Agencies Falling Short on Mandate for Online Records
The National Security Archive 2015 E-FOIA Audit.

Torture Report Finally Released
Senate Intelligence Committee Summary of CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program Concludes CIA Misled Itself, Congress, the President about Lack of Effectiveness.

U.S. National Archives Web Site Uploads Hundreds of Thousands of Diplomatic Cables from 1977
A Step Forward for On-Line Research in International History.

Half of Federal Agencies Still Use Outdated Freedom of Information Regulations
50 out of 101 not in compliance with 2007 Congressional changes to the statute.

Special Plans and Double Meanings: Controversies over Deception, Intelligence, and Policy Counterterrorism

Kissinger to Ford: "Smash" Rumsfeld
Newly Declassified Telcons Show Conflict During Ford Years Over Arms Control, Détente, Leaks, Angola.

Freedom of Information Regulations: Still Outdated, Still Undermining Openness
Majority of Agencies Have Not Updated FOIA Rules to Meet Either Obama's 2009 Order or Congress's 2007 Law

Outdate Agency Regs Undermine Freedom of Information
Majority of Agencies Have Not Updated Regs to Meet Either Obama's 2009 Order or Congress's 2007 Law.

CIA History of DCI William Colby
CIA Director Distinguishes "bad"/"good"/"lesser" and "non-secrets."

COMPLETE PENTAGON PAPERS AT LAST!
All Three Versions Posted, Allowing Side-by-Side Comparison

Eleven Possibilities for Pentagon Papers' "11 Words"
What were the 11 words the government didn’t want you to see? 

Eight Federal Agencies Have FOIA Requests a Decade Old, According to Knight Open Government Survey
Oldest Pending Request Now 20 Years Old, Still on Referral Among Multiple Agencies

The Last NSAM Standing
Deconstructing a Secrecy Blunder: A Study in Dysfunction

Glass Half Full
2011 Knight Open Government Survey Finds Freedom of Information Change, But Many Federal Agencies Lag in Fulfilling President Obama's Day One Openness Pledge

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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