Unlock Declassified U.S. Government Documents
Digital National Security Archive unlocks a vast trove of important declassified U.S. government documents, providing vital primary source material to advance research in twentieth and twenty-first century history, politics, and international relations.
This collection is produced in partnership with The National Security Archive offering the most comprehensive collection available of significant primary documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945. Collections cover the most critical world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from post-World War II through the 21st century, providing unparalleled access to the defining international strategies of our time with more than 150,000 indexed, declassified government documents. Many are published now for the first time gathered through extensive use of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act by The Archive.
The digitized documents are made available in over 60 topic-based collections, with two new collections added each year. The curation of each collection is overseen by subject-area scholars to ensure the material provides the most discerning coverage of the topic.
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Digital National Security Archive Collections
Asia
These Asia focused archives offer invaluable insights into U.S. policy and interactions with countries such as Afghanistan, China, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, North Korea, and South Korea. Spanning critical decades, it illuminates diplomatic, security, and economic relations, as well as intelligence operations in the region.
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Cold War
These Cold War collections cover pivotal events and crises from 1947 to 1991, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Crisis, U.S.-Soviet relations, intelligence analyses, and the end of the Cold War. They feature declassified documents, summit transcripts, and intelligence reports that provide deep insights into superpower confrontations and negotiations.
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Human Rights
These collections explore U.S. human rights policies in various contexts, covering Argentina's political upheaval, Chile's transition from dictatorship to democracy, Colombia's narcotics-driven violence, and South Africa's apartheid era. They contain declassified documents detailing U.S. diplomatic, military, and intelligence responses to human rights issues.
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Intelligence
These collections delve into various aspects of intelligence operations and organizations, covering covert activities from presidential administrations, electronic surveillance, the National Security Agency's history, U.S. espionage, post-9/11 changes, and U.S.-Russia relations.
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Latin America
These Latin America focused collections offer a comprehensive look at U.S. foreign policy, covert operations, human rights, and counternarcotics efforts across various countries, providing invaluable historical insights into the region's complex dynamics.
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Middle East
These Middle East focused archives delve into U.S. policy and involvement in the region, spanning critical events like the Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Contra scandal, Iraq's prelude to the Gulf War, terrorism, and the Afghanistan War. It offers valuable insights into decades of geopolitical complexities and conflicts.
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Military
These collections cover U.S. military and foreign policy in various regions and eras, from the Afghanistan War (1998-2017) and Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon memos (2001-2006) to the Iraq War (1997-2011), U.S. Military Uses of Space (1945-1991), and the Vietnam War (1954-1975). They provide insights into planning, operations, diplomacy, reconstruction, intelligence, and post-9/11 shifts.
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Nuclear
These collections cover U.S. nuclear history and policy from 1945 to 1991, examining nuclear arms, arms control, and non-proliferation efforts, including the formation of key institutions like the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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Presidential Policy
These collections focus on U.S. climate change diplomacy, presidential directives on national security, Henry Kissinger's roles in U.S. diplomacy, and President's Daily Briefs. They explore major agreements like the Montreal Protocol and the Paris Agreement, provide detailed records of top-level meetings and directives, and offer insights into critical periods in U.S. foreign policy.
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