Briefing Books

“Briefing Books” are one-stop resources covering a full range of topics in U.S. foreign policy. Containing from 5 to 100+ documents, each briefing book features an introductory essay, individual document descriptions, related photo or video content, plus links for further reading.
Tiananmen at 25 Years
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, June 3, 2014 – Significant cleavages existed within the Chinese political leadership and security apparatus over the decision to use force against student protesters at Tiananmen…
Inside the UN Security Council: April–July 1994
| Briefing Book
EXPERT OPINION Declassified U.N. Cables Reveal Turning Point in Rwanda Crisis of 1994 By Mark Landler, The New York Times, June 3, 2014 The United Nations Security Council in Rwanda By Michael…
Anatoly S. Chernyaev Diary, 1974
| Briefing Book
Previous Chernyaev Diary Postings The Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, 1973 Eigth Installment of Former Top Soviet Adviser's Journal Available in English for First Time
U.S. Covert Intervention in Chile: Planning to Block Allende Began Long before September 1970 Election
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, May 23, 2014 – Covert U.S.
Rwanda: The Failure of the Arusha Peace Accords
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, May 21, 2014 – The Arusha Accords, a peace agreement between the Rwandan government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) signed in August 1993, failed in the worst way peace accords…
Iran 1953: The Strange Odyssey of Kermit Roosevelt's Countercoup
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, May 12, 2014 – As the Iranian revolution crested in 1978-1979, the CIA approved a memoir by Kermit Roosevelt, one of the architects of the 1953 coup against Iran's nationalist prime…
Declassified Documents Show Henry Kissinger's Major Role in the 1974 Initiative That Created the Nuclear Suppliers Group
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 21, 2014– Henry Kissinger played a slightly reluctant but nonetheless highly influential role in establishing the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in the mid-1970s, motivated…
Sitreps Detail Rwanda's Descent into Genocide 1994
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, April 7, 2014 –The complete series of daily and weekly situation reports (sitreps) written by UN peacekeepers in Rwanda — published today by the National Security Archive for the…
Brazil Marks 50th Anniversary of Military Coup
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, April 2, 2014 – Almost two years before the April 1, 1964, military takeover in Brazil, President Kennedy and his top aides began seriously discussing the option of overthrowing Joao…
The Rwandan Refugee Crisis: Before the Genocide
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, March 31, 2014 – During the months leading up to the genocide in Rwanda, United Nations officials and western diplomats became increasingly concerned by the threat to political…
U.S. National Archives Web Site Uploads Hundreds of Thousands of Diplomatic Cables from 1977
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, March 27, 2014 – In February 2014, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) posted 300,000 State Department telegrams from 1977 — the first year of the Jimmy Carter…
Iran-Contra: Lawrence Walsh's Contribution to History
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, March 26, 2014 – The passing away of Iran-Contra Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh on March 19, at age 102, is an appropriate occasion to recall some of the extraordinary outcomes…
The Rwandan Genocide Seen Through the Eyes of France
| Briefing Book
RELATED POSTS Warnings of Catastrophe French, US, UN, and Belgian Documents Foreshadow the Genocide in Rwanda 1994. March 6, 2014
Half of Federal Agencies Still Use Outdated Freedom of Information Regulations
| Briefing Book, | FOIA Audit
IN THE NEWS Obama Administration Official Whitewashes Truth About FOIA By Jason Leopold, Freedom of the Press Foundation, March 17, 2014 Sunshine Week: Transparency issues persist with Obama…
Warnings of Catastrophe
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, March 6, 2014 – Concerned about the possibility of "a new bloodbath" in Rwanda, the Belgium foreign ministry issued a dramatic diplomatic dйmarche on February 25, 1994, calling for a…
60th Anniversary of Castle BRAVO Nuclear Test, the Worst Nuclear Test in U.S. History
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., February 28, 2014 – Sixty years ago, on 1 March 1954 (28 February on this side of the International Dateline), on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the U.S. government staged…
Prisoner Abuse: Patterns From the Past
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C. May 12, 2004: CIA interrogation manuals written in the 1960s and 1980s described "coercive techniques" such as those used to mistreat detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq,…
Dubious Secrets of the Cuban Missile Crisis
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., February 21, 2014 – Inane and contradictory declassification actions on military records of the Cuban Missile Crisis indicate serious flaws in the Defense Department's…
Special Plans and Double Meanings: Controversies over Deception, Intelligence, and Policy Counterterrorism
| Briefing Book
A major controversy during the administration of President George W. Bush concerned the use or misuse of intelligence with regard to Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs and possible links…
The Rwanda Sitreps
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, February 3, 2014 – Three months after its arrival, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) remained ill-equipped and unprepared to respond to the rising threat of…