The Digital National Security Archive is an invaluable online collection of more than 93,000 declassified records documenting historic U.S. policy decisions. DNSA provides authoritative access to the original documents—most of them formerly classified and previously unavailable—that underlie the crucial decisions facing presidents from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. Researchers can directly access the documents that shaped responses to issues ranging from the origins of the Cold War to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and beyond.
- Boards of experts, including former policymakers, scholars, and journalists guide the acquisition of the Archive’s documents.
- Staff experts use the Freedom of Information Act, filing hundreds of requests for the key documents used by decision-makers and ensuring that the most complete versions of documents are supplied.
- Documents are organized into topical collections according to a defining event or policy issue. Librarians then catalog, index, and abstract all documents, based on an in-house authority file accumulated over 20+ years with more than 60,000 verified names, organizations, and subject terms.
- Detailed research aids in the form of introductory essays, photographs, glossaries, chronologies, and bibliographies, prepared by on-staff experts, provide valuable context and background information for use by students, teachers, and researchers.
- Also available—More than 150 audio files allow users to eavesdrop on high-level discussions of U.S. policy toward Chile, the Vietnam War, China, and more during the Nixon years; and the long-classified CIA Family Jewels compilation provides deeper insights into U.S. policymaking and intelligence operations.