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.
Nuclear Terrorism: How Big a Threat?
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., September 7, 2012 – Eleven years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, how concerned Americans should be over threats of nuclear terrorism remains a subject of vigorous…
Early Atomic Energy Commission Studies Show Concern over Gas Centrifuge Proliferation risk
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., July 23, 2012 – The possibility that highly motivated countries, such as Iran in today's environment, could secretly build gas centrifuge plants to produce highly enriched uranium…
The Alexeyeva File
| Briefing Book
Moscow, Russian Federation, July 20, 2012 – Marking the 85th birthday of Russian human rights legend Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the National Security Archive today published on the Web a digital collection…
Documenting the FBI: Declassified Documents Provide New Detail on Confronting the Terrorist Threat – from al-Qaeda to Skinheads
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., July 19, 2012 – A new Web resource posted today by the National Security Archive offers a wide-ranging compilation of declassified records detailing the operations of a key…
Trilateralism and Beyond
| Briefing Book
A new book and newly-released documents illuminate the history of U.S. efforts to deal with the Korean security dilemma during and since the Cold War.
Stolen Babies Argentina Convicts Two Military Dictators
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., July 5, 2012 –An Argentine tribunal today convicted two former military leaders for their roles in the kidnapping and theft of dozens of babies of executed and disappeared political…
10-CEHTRIFUGE SERIES CELL (OHE CEHTRIFUGE PER STAGE)
Early Atomic Energy Commission Studies Show Concern over Gas Centrifuge Proliferation Risk
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., July 23, 2012 – The possibility that highly motivated countries, such as Iran in today's environment, could secretly build gas centrifuge plants to produce highly enriched uranium…
Japan and the United States from Kennedy to Clinton
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., June 20, 2012 –The National Security Archive announces the publication of its latest digital compilation of declassified records on U.S. ties with a critically important global…
The Central Intelligence Agency's 9/11 File
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., June 19, 2012 – The National Security Archive today is posting over 100 recently released CIA documents relating to September 11, Osama bin Laden, and U.S. counterterrorism…
Mighty Derringer
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., May 29, 2012 - A secret exercise in 1986 by a U.S. government counter-terrorist unit uncovered a host of potential problems associated with disrupting a nuclear terrorist plot in…
Twenty square blocks of downtown Indianapolis were "destroyed" in the Mighty Derringer Exercise
The MIGHTY DERRINGER Nuclear Exercise of 1986
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., May 29, 2012 - A secret exercise in 1986 by a U.S. government counter-terrorist unit uncovered a host of potential problems associated with disrupting a nuclear terrorist plot…
Anatoly S. Chernyaev Diary, 1972
| Briefing Book
Translated and edited by Anna Melyakova and Svetlana Savranskaya "Anatoly Chernyaev's diary is one of the great internal records of the Gorbachev years, a trove of irreplaceable observations about a…
Update: The Guatemalan Death Squad Diary and the Right to Truth
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., May 3, 2012 – On April 25, 2012, Kate Doyle, senior analyst and director of the Guatemala Documentation Project at the National Security Archive, provided expert witness testimony…
New Documents Spotlight Reagan-era Tensions over Pakistani Nuclear Program
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 27, 2012 – Tensions between the United States and Pakistan rose through the 1980s over intelligence reports that suggested to U.S.
President Reagan meets with Pakistani dictator General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq at the Oval Office on 7 December 1982
New Documents Spotlight Reagan-era Tensions over Pakistani Nuclear Program
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 27, 2012 – Tensions between the United States and Pakistan rose through the 1980s over intelligence reports that suggested to U.S.
Taylor Verdict Milestone for International Justice
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 26, 2012 – The former Liberian president Charles Taylor today became the first head of state since Nuremberg convicted by an international court for crimes against humanity,…
The SOLO File:
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 10, 2012 – The "FBI's most valued secret agents of the Cold War," brothers Morris and Jack Childs, together codenamed SOLO, reported back to J.
Reagan On The Falkland/Malvinas: "Give[] Maggie enough to carry on..."
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 1, 2012 – The United States secretly supported the United Kingdom during the early days of the Falklands/Malvinas Island war of 1982, while publicly adopting a neutral stance…
The Pursuit of Justice in Guatemala
| Briefing Book
Washington, DC, March 23, 2012 -- Today marks the 30th anniversary of the coup that propelled General Efraín Ríos Montt to power and launched the most violent period of the 36-year internal armed…
Underground Facilities: Intelligence and Targeting Issues
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., March 23, 2012 – A central element of the current debate over how to deal with Iran's nuclear program has focused on the possible difficulty of destroying the Qom underground…