The Nuclear Vault

Featured Posting

Illustration from a 1985 report by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist Michael MacCracken, showing smoke and soot lofted from nuclear detonations on day 1 and the passage of the smoke 5, 10, and 20 days later (See Document 13, “Global Atmospheric Effects of Nuclear War”)

Investigating the Climate Impacts of Nuclear War

Washington, D.C., October 30, 2024 - A 1983 study from scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore Laboratory said that a full-scale nuclear war between the superpowers would “…

Oct 30, 2024

Previous Postings

Manhattan Project Director’s Files Illuminate Early History of Atomic Bomb

Aug 8, 2024

The First Atomic Explosion, 16 July 1945

Jul 16, 2024

President Jimmy Carter with the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of Defense Harold Brown meeting for breakfast, 20 November 1977

Ivory Item: Carter First U.S. President to Participate in Nuclear Drill

May 31, 2024

President Jimmy Carter approaching the National Emergency Airborne Command Post [NEACP]

New State Department History Details Nuclear Targeting and Continuity of Government, 1977-1980

Apr 17, 2024

Frame from "Commander's Report, Operation Castle" film

Castle BRAVO at 70: The Worst Nuclear Test in U.S. History

Feb 29, 2024

Recent Nuclear Declassifications and Denials: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Dec 6, 2023

Adviser Zbigniew Brezinski, President Jimmy Carter, and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance

The Discovery of South Africa’s Secret Nuclear Test Site, August 1977

Oct 26, 2023

Secretary of State George Shultz (left), President Reagan (center) and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.

Humanitarian Law of War: The U.S.-NATO Review of Additional Protocol I, 1978-1986

Sep 21, 2023

78th Anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings: Revisiting the Record

Aug 7, 2023

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About this Project

Since the founding of the National Security Archive, nuclear crises, nuclear proliferation, and the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. policy have been central to its FOIA requesting. The overwhelming importance of the problem of nuclear weapons has posed an existential threat since the early years of the Cold War and has made this an essential focus.

Special Collection

Key Documents on Nuclear Policy Issues, 1945-1990

The millions of pages of classified and declassified documents on U.S. nuclear policy during and after the Cold War are beyond the comprehension of any one individual, even any U.S. government organization.

Special Collection >>

Blog Posts

Nixon, Thieu and the Bomb: CIA Report Sheds Light on Richard Nixon’s Madman Diplomacy

Feb 20, 2018

The Fifty-Year Rule: Its Use and Misuse

Aug 15, 2017

Additional Documents to The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II

Aug 7, 2017

Nixon’s Nuclear Specter Receives Award from the U.S. Military History Group

Jun 21, 2017

Nuclear Intelligence via Three Martinis

May 30, 2017

More >>

Project Publications

Israel and the Bomb
Oct 15, 1999

James B. Conant: Harvard to Hiroshima and the Making of the Nuclear Age (Stanford Nuclear Age Series)
Nov 23, 1993

Key Readings

The literature of scholarly articles and books on U.S. nuclear policy is not as copious as the primary sources, but abundant enough. Determining which books on any given subject are most valuable and illuminating is a matter of subjective judgment, shaped by experience, including education, research, and other reading. The following list of articles and books is not meant to be comprehensive, but only to highlight those secondary sources that the editor finds especially worthwhile.

Key Reading >>

In the Media

Behind the Scenes of US Nuclear Diplomacy With India

The Diplomat

Oct 12, 2024

Uprooting: Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and the American Nuclear Weapons"

CounterPunch

Sep 4, 2024

Latest From the Carnegie Nuclear Policy Program

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Aug 8, 2024

Documents trace secret 1960 deal on U.S. warships carrying nukes

The Asahi Shimbun

May 19, 2024

Havana Syndrome: The History Behind the Mystery

Foreign Policy Research Institute

Apr 1, 2024

Thank You

The National Security Archive thanks the New-Land Foundation for the funding that supported creation of the Nuclear Vault. Special appreciation goes to the Prospect Hill Foundation for the funding that has kept up the pressure on the U.S. government to declassify the record of nuclear weapons policy, however embarrassing it may be. General support to the Archive from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has been essential for the long-term success of this project in getting nuclear weapons policy documents declassified. The Carnegie Corporation of New York also provides vital funding for opening the record of U.S. nuclear policies, especially in relation to the former Soviet Union and Russia today. Other supporters who deserve our thanks include the Ploughshares Fund, the late lamented W. Alton Jones Foundation, the John Merck Fund, and the hundreds of university librarians who subscribe to the Digital National Security Archive by ProQuest.

Photo Gallery

For researchers of the nuclear era, the U.S. Air Force's photo collection is an especially valuable resource because it documents the many aspects and phases of that service's nuclear role, from the 1950s through the late 1970s.

Photo Gallery >>

The Nuclear Vault

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