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 Folkets Hus Building (center) in Stockholm, Sweden
50 Years of U.S. Resistance to Environmental Reparations
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., July 6, 2023 – As the world’s wealthiest countries continue to avoid making serious financial commitments to developing states on the front lines of the climate crisis, declassified…
1. Opening Session of Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts, Geneva, Switzerland, 20 February 1974
Nuclear Weapons and the Law of War
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., June 6, 2023 - U.S.
Yeltsin and Clinton. Vancouver summit.
The First Six Months of Clinton-Russian Relations:
Summits with Yeltsin at Vancouver and Tokyo, 1993
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., June 5, 2023 – Declassified highest-level records from the first six months of the Clinton administration’s relations with the Russian Federation in 1993 reveal a remarkable array…
Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger’s Documented Legacy
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C., May 25, 2023 - As Henry Alfred Kissinger (HAK) reaches 100 years of age, his centennial is generating global coverage of his legacy as a leading statesman, master diplomat, and…
A.S. Chernyaev's Central Committee's pass to the Central Stadium, 1983
Anatoly S. Chernyaev Diary, 1983
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C., May 25, 2023 - The National Security Archive today marks what would have been Anatoly Sergeyevich Chernyaev’s 102nd birthday with the publication for the first time in English…
Jupiter, Deactivation, Missile Site
The Jupiter Missiles and the Cuban Missile Crisis Endgame
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 20, 2023 - Sixty years ago, during April 1963, the U.S.
doc 12
Chiquita’s Bagman: Key Intermediary Sentenced in Paramilitary Payments Case
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 18, 2023 – A Colombian taxi driver who last month was
the movement and the madman
The Movement and the “Madman”
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., March 24, 2023 - On Tuesday, March 28, 2023, PBS’s “American Experience” program premieres “The Movement and the ‘Madman,’” a documentary that tells the story of how the…
USAirforce
Filming Armageddon: Air Force Movies Depict U.S. Preparations for Nuclear War
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., March 20, 2023 -The declassified Air Force film shows the crew of a U.S. B-52 bomber reaching its “Positive Control” (“fail safe”) point on the way to its target in the Soviet…
Iridium - Russian satellite collision
What’s Up There, Where Is It, and What’s It Doing?
The U.S. Space Surveillance Network
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., March 13, 2023 – The 65-year U.S.
Page one of the report Escuela Normal Rural “Raúl Isidros Burgos,” produced by the 35th Military Zone’s “Internal Order Analysis Group” in August 2006
Guacamaya Leaks and the Ayotzinapa Case
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., March 10, 2023 - Years before 43 young men from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college were attacked and forcibly disappeared in Iguala, Guerrero, the Mexican military had the school…
Z Devision
Proliferation Watch: U.S. Intelligence Assessments of Potential Nuclear Powers, 1977-2001
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., December 16, 2013 – The Soviet Union assisted the United States in its effort to curb South Africa's nuclear program in August 1977 when Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev…
SOLAR SUNRISE: 25 Years Older, but 25 Years Wiser?
SOLAR SUNRISE After 25 Years: Are We 25 Years Wiser?
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., February 28, 2023 - In February 1998, 25 years ago this month, the United States suffered a series of cyber intrusions known as SOLAR SUNRISE that then-Deputy Secretary of Defense…
Jupiter Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) at Cigli air base in Turkey, 1963
The Jupiter Missiles and the Endgame of the Cuban Missile Crisis, 60 Years Ago
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., February 16, 2023 - Harvard professor and future Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger discussed the U.S.
Clinton and Yeltsin 1993
Launching the Clinton Administration Russia Policy in 1993
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., February 7, 2023 – With the Cold War coming to an end and the Soviet Union dissolving, President Bill Clinton was determined not to miss a historic opportunity to help Russia…
President Bush and Soviet President Yeltsin announce the end of the cold war during a press conference at Camp David. -- February 01, 1992
The First Months of U.S. Relations with the New Russia, 1992
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C., January 30, 2023 – The George H.W.
Castro and Khrushchev
The Cuban Missile Crisis @ 60
POSTMORTEMS
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., December 13, 2022 - In the immediate aftermath of the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev met with the Czechoslovakian Communist Party leader,…
The Canada-India Utility Services (CIRUS) research reactor
The U.S., Canada, and the Indian Nuclear Program, 1968-1974
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., December 9, 2022 – Canadian inspectors visiting the Canada-Indian Reactor (CIR) at Trombay during June 1968 were “unsettled” by data suggesting that India was heading toward the “…
SRAM
New Declassifications on Nuclear Weapons Safety and Security
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., November 18, 2022 - A top safety official at a U.S.
Che Guevara on Cuban Banknote
The Cuban Missile Crisis @ 60
Getting to Know the Cubans: Part Two
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., November 3, 2022 – As Cuban-Soviet ties grew stronger from late 1960 through early 1961, the Cubans repeatedly asked for military assistance and security guarantees from the Soviets…