Archive News Alerts

Check here for press releases and notices about the National Security Archive, plus public announcements about major document declassifications, government policy shifts, court decisions, or congressional legislation.
Nixon/Kissinger Saw India as "Soviet Stooge" in 1971 South Asia Crisis
Washington, D.C., June 29, 2005 - President Nixon and his national security adviser Henry Kissinger saw India as a "Soviet stooge" during the South Asia crisis of 1971, downplayed reports of…
D.C. Circuit Narrows Advisory Committee Openness
Washington, D.C., May 10, 2005 - The D.C. Circuit today issued a unanimous, en banc decision effectively ending the effort by the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch to obtain information about who…
Nixon Library Promises Donation of Spliced Tapes/Files to National Archives
Nixon Library to revise exhibits, participate in new Vietnam conference, Donate most pre- and post-presidential materials to National Archives Including "personal/political" 700 hours cut from tapes…
Historians Ask Congress to Suspend Nixon Transfer
March 10, 2005 TO: Members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives Committees on Appropriations, Government Affairs, and Government Reform We are writing to request that Congress suspend…
Archive General Counsel Testifies Before Congressional Hearing on "Openness in Government and Freedom of Information: Examining the OPEN Government Act of 2005"
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for this opportunity to speak with you about the Freedom of Information Act and the necessary reforms that would be enacted by the OPEN Government…
Archive Director Testifies Before Congressional Hearing on "Overclassification and Pseudo-classification"
Statement by Thomas S. Blanton, National Security Archive, George Washington University March 2, 2005 Hearing on "Emerging Threats: Overclassification and Pseudo-classification" 2154 Rayburn House…
Public Interest in Hidden CIA Operational Records is High
Washington D.C., January 21, 2005 - The National Security Archive this week submitted comments on the Central Intelligence Agency's decennial review of the record categories that the CIA has…
National Security Archive joins library and public interest groups supporting public access to special interests participating in Cheney's energy task force
Washington, D.C., 30 November 2004 - The National Security Archive along with concerned library, journalist, and public interest organizations today filed an amici curiae brief with the United States…
Archive Sues CIA for Speedy Review of Key Iraq Document
Washington, D.C., 20 October 2004 - The National Security Archive today filed suit against the Central Intelligence Agency ("CIA") seeking the expedited processing and release under the Freedom of…
Chile 1964: CIA Covert Support in Frei Election Detailed; Operational and Policy Records Released for First Time
WASHINGTON D.C.: For the first time in forty years, CIA and White House documents on covert political intervention in the 1964 Chilean election were declassified yesterday. The documents, which…
U.S. Nuclear War Plans A "Hazard to Ourselves as Well as Our Enemy"
The U.S. included so many nuclear weapons in its first missile-age plan for nuclear war that top military commanders called it a "hazard to ourselves as well as our enemy," according to newly…
Supreme Court Refuses to Approve the Immunity from Discovery Sought by Vice President Cheney
Washington D.C., June 24, 2004 - The United States Supreme Court today remanded to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals a case concerning the application of a federal open government law to the Energy…
National Security Archive Collections
National Security Archive Collections This page will present finding aids to the Archive's unpublished, boxed collections as the catalogs are completed and become accessioned. We are proud to…
Art Before Power: Jenny Holzer showcase
Washington D.C., June 17, 2004 - Noted modern artist Jenny Holzer, whose signature "xenon" film projectors have cast monumental light images of texts and truisms on the sides of buildings and…
Archive, Historians Ask Judge to Rethink Dismissal, Presidential REcords Act Case Still Not Resolved; New Bush Order Adds 140 Days to Processing Time; Judge Recorgnized Injury But Thought it Moot
Washington, D.C., April 30 - A federal judge's dismissal last month of a landmark open government case was based on two factual misconceptions and deserves re-opening, according to court filings last…
Archive Calls for Declassification of the President's Daily Brief
Washington, D.C., April 8, 2004 - The National Security Archive at George Washington University today called for the public declassification of the controversial President's Daily Brief from August 6…
Librarians/Archivists/Public Interest v. Vice President Cheney
Washington D.C., 11 March 2004 - The National Security Archive, together with America's leading library and archival associations and four public interest groups, filed a joint amicus brief today in…
Declassified Documents Show That, For Over Fifteen Years, Beijing Rebuffed U.S. Queries on Chinese Aid to Pakistani Nuclear Program
Washington D.C., 5 March 2004 - Over the course of three presidential administrations, U.S. governmental officials repeatedly pressed the Chinese government to explain whether it was providing any…
Update on Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction
Washington, D.C. - Almost a year after the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Bush administration faces growing skepticism over its claim that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs…
New Evidence on Nuclear Weapons Effects Shows That U.S. Nuclear War Plans Underestimated Destructiveness of Nuclear Arsenal By Ignoring Firestorms
Washington, D.C. - A nuclear weapon at the "small" end of historic strategic arsenals that exploded over the Pentagon would create a mass fire that would engulf the Washington, D.C. area as far as…