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.
Rumsfeld's Roadmap to Propaganda
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., January 26, 2006 - A secret Pentagon "roadmap" on war propaganda, personally approved by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in October 2003, calls for "boundaries" between…
East Timor truth commission finds U.S. "political and military support were fundamental to the Indonesian invasion and occupation"
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., January 24, 2006 - The final report of East Timor's landmark Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) has found that U.S.
U.S.-Japan Relations Declassified
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., December 14, 2005 - Secretary of State James Baker warned in 1991 that Japan's "bitter history" with the Koreas would "inhibit policy coordination," even though "Japan has important…
A Quarter Century of U.S. Support for Occupation
| Briefing Book
Today, as East Timorese President Xanana Gusmão transmits to East Timor's Parliament the 2,500 page final report of the country's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) …
"To Have the Only Option That of Killing 80 Million People is the Height of Immorality"(Note 1)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., November 23, 2005 - The nuclear war plans that constitute the Single Integrated Operational Plan have been among the most closely guarded secrets in the U.S. government.
To the Geneva Summit
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C. November 22, 2005 - Twenty years ago this week the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union concluded their Geneva Summit, which became the first step on the road to…
The Secret History of Dayton
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., November 21, 2005 - Every work of history is not just a statement about the past, but a reflection of the era -- if not the precise year -- during which it was written. This is…
The Guatemalan Police Archives
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., November 21, 2005 - On July 5, officials from the Guatemalan government's human rights office (PDH - Procuradurнa de Derechos Humanos) entered a deteriorating, rat-infested…
Drugs and the Guatemalan Military
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., November 18, 2005 - Investigative journalist Frank Smyth breaks new ground in documenting links between retired Guatemalan military officers and drug trafficking into the United…
Alexander Yakovlev and the Roots of the Soviet Reforms
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C.
Saddam's Iron Grip
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C. October 18, 2005 - The National Security Archive today posted a series of declassified U.S. intelligence documents and other U.S. agency reports on Saddam Hussein's human rights…
Paramilitaries as Proxies
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C. October 16, 2005 - Today, the Colombia Documentation Project proudly announces the first in a series of articles to be published in collaboration with Semana, Colombia's leading news…
FAA Believed Second 9/11 Plane Heading Towards NY for Emergency Landing
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., September 9, 2005 - Ten minutes after American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA…
North Korea and the United States: Declassified Documents from the Bush I and Clinton Administrations
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C. August 23, 2005 - Next week, if all goes according to plan, the United States will resume six-party talks with North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia and host nation China on the…
Pre-9/11 U.S. Attempts to Drive Bin Laden Out of Afghanistan Repeatedly Unsuccessful, Documents Show
| Briefing Book
Washington, August 18, 2005 - The U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan told a top Taliban official in September 2000 that the U.S.
The Taliban File Part IV
| Briefing Book
Washington, August 18, 2005 - UPDATE - The U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan told a top Taliban official in September 2000 that the U.S.
State Department experts warned CENTCOM before Iraq war about lack of plans for post-war Iraq security
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., August 17, 2005: Newly declassified State Department documents show that government experts warned the U.S.
From Director of Central Intelligence to Director of National Intelligence
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C.: Today, the National Security Archive posts an updated collection of reports, studies, commentaries, and other material concerning the issue of exactly how much authority should be…
The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II (2005)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., August 5, 2005 - Sixty years ago this month, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and the Japanese government…
Pentagon Releases More Photos of War Casualty Honor Guards
| Briefing Book
Full Statement of Ralph J.