Testimonials
“Forty years have now passed and we have become forty years older. Had we not told our children the truth about what happened in 1956, they could not tell their children either. Our grandchildren, however, will unearth the truth for themselves. From archival sources and written memorials. From facts. Mercilessly. Out of the desire for knowledge. Without having lived in that age and breathed the air of those days. It may well be that the story they reconstruct will be more accurate than our own version. Hosts of young researchers abroad and in Hungary are working on that narrative already – as typified by the editors of this extraordinary volume – and I am sure that they will sincerely answer the prevailing questions of “why” and “how”. With this outstanding volume, the scholars at the 1956 Institute in Budapest and the National Security Archive in the United States are helping to lead the way in this important historical exercise.”
- Árpád Göncz, former President of Hungary, on the book The 1956 Hungarian Revolution
“This excellent collection of documents pulls together what’s been learned about this event since the Cold War did in fact end … in a manner foreshadowed by what had happened in 1953. It is an indispensable new source for the study of Cold War history.”
- John Lewis Gaddis, Yale University, on Uprising in East Germany 1953
“The Kissinger Transcripts provides a unique and fascinating look into Henry Kissinger’s personal conduct of diplomatic negotiations and diplomatic maneuver in his contacts with the leaders of China and the Soviet Union. These near-verbatim transcripts provide an unvarnished and candid record [and] the personalities and proclivities of Kissinger’s Chinese and Soviet partners come through fully. The Kissinger Transcripts is not only an important book, but a really good read.”
- Raymond L. Garthoff, on The Kissinger Transcripts (1999)
The National Security Archive [is] a private group devoted to prying documents out of the federal government’s files and making them public … The house that FOIA built and a mecca for documents buffs … Some of the documents are mind-numbingly boring, of course, but others are nothing short of astonishing.
- Peter Carlson, The Washington Post, (2008)
"The National Security Archive plays a vital role in the field of nuclear weapons policy research. Through the vigorous use of the Freedom of Information Act and through monitoring new releases at the National Archives, its analysts seek the declassification and dissemination of some of the most important secrets in the nuclear weapons field. These findings gain wide exposure on the Archive’s extraordinary 'Nuclear Vault', its site for the electronic briefing books and other document collections that are so valuable to scholars of nuclear policy, military history, and foreign policy."
- Robert S. Norris, Natural Resources Defense Council
“In the United States, on organization, the National Security Archive, has spent over 25 years working for more open government at home and abroad. This independent nonprofit covers the waterfront: investigative journalism; research on international affairs; open government advocate; indexer and publisher of former secrets; and archive of declassified U.S. documents.”
- Carnegie Results (2014)
“Using freedom of information law and extracting meaningful details from the yield can be an imposing, frustrating task. But since 1985, the non-profit National Security Archive has been a FOILer’s best friend, facilitating thousands of searches for journalists and scholars. The archive, funded by foundations and income from its own publications, has become a one-stop shopping center for declassifying and retrieving important documents, suing to preserve such government data as e-mail messages, pressing for appropriate reclassification of files, and sponsoring research that has unearthed major revelations .... We are pleased to present this special 1999 George Polk Award to the National Security Archive ... for piercing self-serving veils of government secrecy, guiding journalists in search for the truth and informing us all.”
- George Polk Award citation (2000)
“The battle for the first outpost of cyberspace- electronic mail- is over. We won; the White House lost.”
- Wired, on White House Email (1995)
“An important contribution came from Thomas S. Blanton and the National Security Archive in Washington, which provided key historical documents and analysis. I am also grateful to Anne Hessing Cahn for access to her collection of papers at the [National Security Archive]. Svetlana Savranskaya guided me with precision and patience through Cold War memoirs and documents.”
- David E. Hoffman, 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Dead Hand (2009)
“Back Channel to Cuba, William LeoGrande’s and Peter Kornbluh’s timely, comprehensive, and meticulously researched study of the ebb and flow in U.S.-Cuban relations from the beginning of the Castro era to the eve of the reopening of diplomatic ties is an enormous contribution to our understanding of this convoluted subject as Washington and Havana move to develop a new equation.”
- Inscription for The Douglas Dillon Award for Distinguished Writing on American Diplomacy, presented to Peter Kornbluh by the American Academy of Diplomacy (2015)
“[A] stream of insights into past American policy, spiced with depictions of White House officials in poses they would never adopt for a formal portrait.”
- The New York Times, review of White House E-Mail: The Top Secret Computer Messages the Reagan-Bush White House Tried to Destroy (1995)
“Evocative, illuminating, insightful: This volume [Masterpieces of History] is a brilliant collection of documents, conversations, and essays. It is absolutely indispensable for understanding the end of the Cold War.”
- Melvyn Leffler, Edward Stettinius Professor of History, University of Virginia (2010)
“An elegantly written treasure trove of fascinating, forgotten, and previously unrevealed history. For those seeking to understand the roots of modern enmity between the U.S. and Iran, Becoming Enemies is a truly unique and wonderful resource.”
- Karim Sadjadpour, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
“By seeking greater government openness and accountability in one of the most sensitive areas of U.S. national security policy, the National Security Archive epitomizes the very activities that make up the life blood of democracy.”
- Robert S. Norris, Natural Resources Defense Council
“I am especially grateful for the work of the National Security Archive ... [It] is a national treasure.”
- Eric Schlosser, author