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.
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| Briefing Book
Washington D.C., May 28, 2021 – “The United States came fairly close to using tactical nuclear weapons” during the Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1958, according to a secret 1966 RAND summary report…
![book cover](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/king-richard-final-revised.jpg?itok=vjaUmh7N)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., May 27, 2021 – Nixon and Watergate represent one of those inexhaustible subjects about which there is always something new to be reported or written.
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| Briefing Book
Washington D.C., May 25, 2021 – The National Security Archive marks the 100th anniversary of Anatoly Sergeyevich Chernyaev’s birth with the publication of the first English-language translation…
![President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Macmillan](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/photo_1_72-2481-2_nps_25_oct_1957.jpg?itok=77Gx9h5e)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., May 13, 2021—British leaders were determined to become a nuclear power after World War II in part so they could have a “seat at the top table” of international negotiations,…
![Colonial pipeline attack](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/collage_6.jpg?itok=RGXGWl6Z)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., May 12, 2021 — This week’s ransomware episode involving Colonial Pipeline has exposed deep cracks in America’s digital armor. However, lost in the flurry of calls for…
![International Space Station](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/6_10.jpg?itok=0HaZ3jns)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., May 7, 2021 – U.S.-Soviet cooperation in space was a regular, if less noticed, feature of the final years of the USSR and continued well after the emergence of independent…
![collage](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/head-image-2_0.jpg?itok=pDZFrpzb)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C. - May 4, 2021 - Some United States Capitol Police (USCP) officers could not access their shields during the January 6, 2021, mob attack on the Capitol because the equipment was…
![President Kennedy receives the flag of the 2506 Brigade](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/01_-_jfkwhp-st-c75-8-62_-_cropped.jpg?itok=N73pXHR5)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 29, 2021 – John F.
![cybermap](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/map_2.jpg?itok=KlbXAZpV)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 26, 2021 — The recent passage of the “Cyber Diplomacy Act of 2021” by the House of Representatives suggests U.S.
![Raul Castro](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/raul_castro.jpg?itok=JDixKgil)
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C., April 16, 2021 – In the earliest known CIA assassination plot against leaders of the Cuban revolution, high agency officials offered the pilot of a plane carrying Raul Castro from…
![Soyuz-Apollo](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/collectible.jpg?itok=2PqRl3ov)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 12, 2021 – Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s historic spaceflight 60 years ago, which made him the first human in space, prompted President John F.
![JFK inspected Homestead Air Force Base](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/homestead_air_force_base.jpg?itok=EftO46Ov)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 8, 2021 – The United States and its European allies disagreed over the advisability of using nuclear weapons to signal resolve and deter war if a serious crisis with…
![Clinton, Gore, and Podesta](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/clinton-gore-podesta.jpg?itok=UgZgNFKN)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., April 5, 2021 – President Bill Clinton’s climate policy faced some of its biggest challenges from two very different quarters – China and the Congress – according to a…
![book](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/brazilbookcover_0.jpg?itok=PbpXRfsO)
| Briefing Book
Washington D.C., March 31, 2021 – The Chilean ambassador to Brazil, Raúl Rettig, sent an alarming cable in March 1971 to his foreign ministry titled “Brazilian Army possibly conducting…
![Coup leaders Admiral Massera and General Videla](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/dirty-war-2_0.jpg?itok=m6g6O_20)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., March 23, 2021 - On the eve of the 45th anniversary of the military coup in Argentina, the National Security Archive is today posting declassified documents revealing what the…
![Forensic specialists from the Mexican Federal Police examine one of the primary crime scenes from the Allende massacre on January 28, 2014.](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/bodega_3976.jpg?itok=9hrJka_p)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., March 18, 2021 – Ten years ago, the Mexican municipality of Allende was the site of one of the worst human rights atrocities ever seen in the country: a three-day rampage that…
![OIP Guideance and reality](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/guidance-5.jpg?itok=qHTo6yds)
| Briefing Book,
| FOIA Audit
Washington D.C., March 12, 2021 - The Defense Department finally replied to the National Security Archive’s September 2006 FOIA request early last year. After nearly 15 years of waiting, on…
![collage](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/collage_7.jpg?itok=0QUxwfEI)
| Briefing Book
Washington, D.C., March 3, 2021 - Video evidence presented by House impeachment managers during Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial shows just how close the violent mob came to physically…
![Gorbachev](/sites/default/files/styles/nsarchive_square_thumbnail/public/thumbnails/image/gorbachev-smile.jpg?itok=7NS2_U9-)
| Briefing Book,
| Special Exhibit
Washington, D.C., March 2, 2021 – The first and only president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, is turning 90 years old today in Moscow. On the occasion of his…