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.
The United States and Cyberspace: Military Organization, Policies, and Activities
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., January 20, 2016 - U.S. military activities in cyberspace have been surprisingly widespread over the years, occurring mainly out of the public eye.
The Clinton White House and Climate Change: The Struggle to Restore U.S. Leadership
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., December 11, 2015 – The Clinton administration came to office in 1993 determined to restore the United States as the preeminent global protector of the environment, but saw its…
U.S. Climate Change Policy in the 1980s
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., December 2, 2015 – Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W.
Road to Dayton paved with genocide
| Briefing Book
The Srebrenica Conference International Decision-Making in the Age of Genocide: Srebrenica 1993-1995 "Critical Oral History" Conference Marks 20th Anniversary of Srebrenica Massacre. Lessons from…
DIA Declassified: A Sourcebook
| Briefing Book, | Sourcebook
Related links The U.S. Intelligence Community, 7th edition (Westview, 2015) By Jeffrey T. Richelson The Pentagon’s Spies Updated July 6, 2015 The Record on Curveball November 5, 2007
The 1983 War Scare Declassified and For Real
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C., October 24, 2015 – The newly released Soviet "War Scare" report - previously classified "TOP SECRET UMBRA GAMMA WNINTEL NOFORN NOCONTRACT ORCON" and published today after a 12-year…
The United States and the Pakistani Bomb, 1984-1985: President Reagan, General Zia, Nazir Ahmed Vaid, and Seymour Hersh
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., 14 October 2015 - In July 1984, U.S.
Secret CIA Report: Pinochet "Personally Ordered" Washington Car-Bombing
| Briefing Book
Related links CIA Acknowledges Ties to Pinochet’s Repression Report to Congress Reveals U.S. Accountability in Chile September 19, 2000
President's Daily Briefs from Kennedy and Johnson Finally Released (Eight Years After Archive, Professor Larry Berman Lawsuit)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., September 16, 2015 - Today the CIA and the LBJ Library are releasing online a collection of 2,500 declassified President’s Daily Briefs (PDBs) from the Kennedy and Johnson…
The Anwar al-Awlaki File
| Briefing Book
Related Materials The Lessons of Anwar al-Awlaki Four years after the United States assassinated the radical cleric in a drone strike, his influence on jihadists is greater than ever. Was there a…
Kazakhstan and Nunn-Lugar: A Non-Proliferation Success Story
| Briefing Book
Related Materials Nunn-Lugar Revisited U.S.-Russian cooperation on threat reduction from the Soviet Union in 1991 to Syria in 2013 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 447
Overhead Imagery: The U.S. Target
| Briefing Book
Related links NASA's Secret Relationships with U.S. Defense and Intelligence Agencies April 10, 2015 U.S. Reconnaissance Satellites: Domestic Targets April 11, 2008 U.S. Satellite Imagery, 1960-…
The Kissinger Telcons: New Documents Throw Light on Sensitive Ford and Kissinger Views
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Washington, D.C., August 19, 2015 – President Gerald Ford was "offended" and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger "almost blind with rage" over Israeli negotiating behavior in 1975, according to newly…
The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II
| Briefing Book
August 4, 2015- A few months after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, General Dwight D.
Washington Post Op-Ed Highlights Dubious Secrets
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The Washington Post article "America classifies way too much information - and we are all less safe for it" By Tom Blanton July 31 at 8:06 PM Tom Blanton is director of the National Security Archive…
Los Quemados: Chile’s Pinochet Covered up Human Rights Atrocity
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Washington D.C., July 31, 2015 – General Augusto Pinochet refused to accept a police report identifying his own military as responsible for burning two teenage protesters alive in July 1986,…
White House Efforts to Blunt 1975 Church Committee Investigation into CIA Abuses Foreshadowed Executive-Congressional Battles after 9/11
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., July 20, 2015 - Forty years ago this year, Congress’s first serious inquiry into CIA abuses faced many of the same political and bureaucratic obstructions as Senate investigators…
Iran’s Nuclear Program – Then and Now
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Washington, D.C., July 14, 2015 -- Four decades ago -- in the mid-1970s -- U.S.
The Pentagon's Spies
| Briefing Book
Related Postings Torture Report Finally Released December 9, 2014 The Pentagon’s Counterspies September 17, 2007 The Interrogation Documents July 13, 2004   More Archive Resources on U.S.…
Srebrenica Conference Documents Detail Path to Genocide from 1993 to 1995
| Briefing Book
IN THE NEWS International Decision-Making in the Age of Genocide: Srebrenica 1993-1995 "Critical Oral History" Conference Marks 20th Anniversary of Srebrenica Massacre.