A Historic Press Conference at the Pierre WHAT: In July 1975, Henry Kissinger sent two of his deputies to meet with representatives of Fidel Castro at the Pierre Hotel in New York City. It was there-in room 727-that the historic first secret talks between Washington and Havana to normalize relations were held. But they would not be the last... For over fifty years, U.S.
Washington, DC, July 24, 2014 – Former Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze, who passed away on July 7, brought a new diplomatic style and candor to bear in changing U.S.-Soviet relations in the late 1980s and ending the Cold War, according to Soviet and U.S. declassified documents posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University (www.nsarchive.org).
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 Barnett, the George Washington University, June 1, 2014
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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
The Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, 1972
Seventh Installment of Former Top Soviet Adviser's Journal Available in English for First Time
The Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, 1991
Sixth Installment of Former Top Soviet Adviser's Journal Available in English for First Time
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 administration — on its Access to Archival Databases system. This posting is another step in carrying out the commitment that NARA and the State Department have made to putting on-line major State Department document databases and indexes as they are declassified.
Washington, DC, January 24, 2014 – A recently declassified transcript of a telephone conversation (telcon) between Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Gerald Ford in December 1975 indicates tensions between Kissinger and Donald Rumsfeld's Defense Department over the SALT II arms control agreement. Telling Ford that "we have [a] SALT agreement within our grasp," Kissinger said "We can smash our opponents" [See document 6].
Washington, D.C., May 25, 2013 – Today the National Security Archive is publishing — for the first time in English — excerpts from the diary of Anatoly S. Chernyaev from 1973, along with edits and a postscript by the author. As in the previous installment of the diary, for 1972, Chernyaev, deputy head of the International Department of the Central Committee (and later a key foreign policy aide to Mikhail Gorbachev), continues to marvel at the contradictory and enigmatic person at the pinnacle of the Soviet leadership — General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev.
Washington, D.C., April 12, 2013 – Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister who passed away this week, built a surprising mutual-admiration relationship with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s – including behind-the-scenes agreement against the reunification of Germany, and profound disagreement about nuclear abolition – according to translated Soviet records of key meetings between the two leaders, posted online today for the first time by the National Security Archive at George Washington University (www.nsarchive.org).
Washington, D.C., April 11, 2013 – For decades, the erratic behavior of North Korea's enigmatic leaders has often masked a mix of symbolic and pragmatic motives, according to declassified documents posted today by the National Security Archive. During earlier crises, Kim Jong Un's father and grandfather postured and threatened the region in ways markedly similar to the behavior of the new leader, the records show. While the current Kim is acting even more stridently in some cases, the documents reveal a past pattern characterized by bellicose conduct.
Archive Electronic Briefing Books Cited in This Posting
THE IRAQ WAR -- PART II: Was There Even a Decision?
October 1, 2010
THE IRAQ WAR -- PART I: The U.S. Prepares for Conflict, 2001
September 22, 2010
Saddam Hussein Talks to the FBI
July 1, 2009
THE RECORD ON CURVEBALL
November 5, 2007
TOP SECRET POLO STEP
February 14, 2007
New State Department Releases on the "Future of Iraq" Project
September 1, 2006
CIA Whites Out Controversial Estimate on Iraq Weapons
July 9, 2004