Since its inception, the National Security Archive has gratefully received numerous donations of declassified U.S. government documents from authors, researchers, and organizations. These invaluable contributions cover a wide range of topics from U.S. intelligence activities to the Vietnam War and from John J. McCloy to military sales. A separate list covers donations on nuclear weapons and other nuclear issues, including human radiation experiments. We can make collections in our holdings available to interested researchers who wish to consult them in our reading room. The following list constitutes a sampling of the donations, including the more heavily used ones. Please consult the National Security Archive if you have questions about holdings on other topics.
William Arkin donation--Desert Storm
Research collection donated by William Arkin- author, journalist, blogger and military analyst. Most of the collection is on Desert Storm and was the basis of Arkin's online project (Fog of War) with the Washington Post that reviewed the U.S.-led air offensive in Baghdad. Other boxes include materials on maritime strategy in Alaska during the Cold War; bombing of Yugoslavia in 1998-1999; nuclear weapons planning and deployment; as well as documents on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Kai Bird donation: John J. McCloy/William Bundy/McGeorge Bundy
40 boxes of material presidential libraries and archival collections collected by Bird for his biography of McCloy, The Chairman, and the combined biography of the Bundy brothers, The Color of Truth.
Center for National Security Studies (CNSS) –various collections, including legal files and documents files
One set of legal files, including FOIA files, are in 17 boxes, arranged alphabetically by case in 17 boxes, from Abramson vs. FBI to U.S. vs (Frank) Snepp). The documents collection, in 21 boxes, consists of material on various topics that the CNSS collected through the Freedom of Information Act. Dealing with national security issues and the operations of intelligence organizations, primarily the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency. The documents are organized by the name of the agency to which the request was placed, and by request number, from the Department of Defense through the nonofficial Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Behavior Control Experiments Collection (John Marks Donation)
Central Intelligence Agency documents collected by John Marks using the Freedom of Information Act and which he used for his book, "The Search for the 'Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control." To preserve the integrity of Marks’ donation, the Archive makes available for research a copy of the original releases.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Book Publishing Program/Project Vista Collection (Sol Chaneles Donation)
This collection includes three series: the Central Intelligence Agency book publishing program during the 1940s and '50s; research notes and documents on Edward W. Ryan’s Red Cross activities (1911-1923); and the CIA's Project Vista.
Chemical and Biological Warfare Contains documents on chemical and biological warfare.
Focusing on the 1970s-80s and on Southeast Asia, the collection includes material on the safety and proliferation of chemical weapons, arms control and disarmament, the Sverdlovsk incident (1978-88) and Fort McClellen closure (1989-91), as well as use of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
Civil Defense/Emergency Preparedness Collection (Rumbarger Donation)
Covers civil defense and emergency preparedness in the U.S., and includes government studies and documents created by such government agencies as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Office of Emergency Preparedness, as well as by Congress.
Defense Department (DOD)--Unified and Specified Commands Collection
Contains histories, chronologies, and reports relating to the military unified and specified commands from the 1970 to the late 1980s.
Early Bird Files (Air Force Historical Research Agency Donation)
Huge collection of subject files for the Pentagon's "Early Bird" publication, a daily compilation of reprinted newspaper and magazine articles on strategic and foreign policy topics, produced by the Current News and Research Service of the Department of Defense from the 1950s to 1995. Included are Supplements, Special Editions, and weekly reviews.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Personality Files (Michael Ravnitzky Donation
Files on a wide range of prominent 20tn century U.S. personalities including writers, entertainers, composers, politicians, scientists, and educators. Most of the files were obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, though there are materials from other government agencies including the Internal Revenue Service and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Also included are files on organizations, events, and a number of FBI and other government programs. The first series of boxes are alphabetical from comedian Bud Abbott to Hollywood producer Adolph Zuckor, with additional personality files included in the remaining boxes.
‘Foreign Military Sales Collection (National Action/Research on the Military-Industrial Complex (NARMIC) Donation)
This collection was donated by National Action/Research on the Military-Industrial Complex (NARMIC), a project of the American Friends Service Committee. The collection includes material on Department of Defense Foreign Military Sales to: Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua; records of international arms transfers; as well as numerous reports by and about U.S. military activities.
Raymond Garthoff Cuban Missile Crisis Donation
Books, monographs, archival documents, notes and commentaries collected by Ambassador Raymond Garthoff dealing with the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Garthoff was involved in the crisis as the State Department’s special assistant for Soviet bloc affairs.
Max Holland donation: Allen Dulles collection
Material on Dulles’s role in the World War II Office of Strategic Services released by CIA in response to Holland’s FOIA request.
Letelier, Orlando Assassination Investigation Collection
Documents concerning the murder by Chilean agents of Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Moffitt and subsequent investigiations and civil and criminal trials. Includes documents received from the FBI, and DOS through FOIA, court documents resulting from a civil suit against the Chilean government, and documents related to the extradition of Michael Townley and other DINA agents.
Panama/Noriega Collection (John Dinges Donation)
The collection includes one box of cables on General Manuel Noriega, as well as other documents on political events in Panama including the 1984 elections and coup, and U.S. reaction to and assessment of the situation, and Noriega's involvement in drug trafficking.
Soviet Flashpoints
This collection consists of declassified documents and other material relating to the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia for the period 1952-1982. Topics covered include the 1953 East German revolt, the Hungarian revolution (1956), the 1968 Czech crisis, the 1980-1982 Polish crisis, and the end of the Cold War in Poland. Also included are briefing books produced for conferences on some of these topics as well as Hungarian and Russian language materials.
Vietnam Collection (Jack Taylor Donation)
Transcripts from the Westmoreland case against CBS and 60 Minutes, Army morning reports, and documents on Vietnam war crimes, battles, the My Lai massacre, as well as court martial records and transcripts.
Vietnam War/"Marigold" Collection (James Hershberg Donation)
Documents and other research material used by GWU professor Hershberg for his book on the peace initiative codenamed "Marigold" that sought to end the Vietnam War in 1966.
Vietnam/Southeast Asia Collection
The collection contains documents on U.S. military operations in Vietnam and Southeast Asia between 1965-1972, including the role of Warner Robins Air Materiel Area (WRAMA), as well as documents from the Westmoreland v. CBS Lawsuit, and numerous declassified Air Force histories.
Zubkoff, Harry M. Collection
Harry M. Zubkoff was founder and director of the Current News Analysis and Research Service of the Department of Defense and editor of the "Current News" digest, also known the "Early Bird," from 1950 to 1986. After the Archive's acquisition of the Early Bird Subject Files, Mr. Zubkoff donated additional material that he had collected since retiring from government service in 1986.