The National Security Archive

[chat_noir]

The National Security Archive combines a unique range of functions in one non governmental, non-profit institution. The Archive is simultaneously a research institute on international affairs, a library and archive of declassified U.S. documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, a public interest law firm defending and expanding public access to government information through the FOIA, and an indexer and publisher of the documents in books, microfiche, and electronic formats...

In the process of developing its extensive collections, the Archive has become the leading non-profit user of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. The Archive has inherited more than 2,000 requests from outside requesters who donated their documents and their pending requests to the Archive, and initiated more than 20,000 other FOIA requests over the past fifteen years. The Archive's work has set new precedents under the FOIA, including more efficient procedures for document processing at the State Department, less burden on requesters to qualify for waivers of processing fees, and the archival preservation of electronic information held by the government. Archive lawsuits under FOIA have forced the release of previously secret documents ranging from the Kennedy-Khrushchev letters during the Cuban Missile Crisis to the diaries of Oliver North during Iran-contra. The Archive's expertise in the U.S. FOIA, as well as in archival and library practices, has brought delegations from South Africa, Russia, Hungary, Germany, Pakistan, India, the Philippines, and various Latin American countries to the Archive to learn from this innovative model of a non governmental institutional memory for formerly secret government documents and the Freedom of Information Act. The Archive is currently working with non governmental institutions in more than a dozen countries to expand open government laws and practices both here and abroad.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/the_archive.html

Some of the documentation:

U.S. Intelligence Community

The National Security Agency Declassified Update
Internet wiretapping mixes "protected" and targeted messages, Info Age requires rethinking 4th Amendment limits and policies, National Security Agency told Bush administration

From Director of Central Intelligence to Director of National Intelligence

The Spy Satellite So Stealthy that the Senate Couldn't Kill It
Secret Program First Described in Book by Archive Senior Fellow

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, 40 Years Later
Flawed Intelligence and the Decision for War in Vietnam

CIA Whites Out Controversial Estimate on Iraq Weapons
Main Subject of Today's Senate Intelligence Report Remains Largely Secret

The Interrogation Documents
Debating U.S. Policy and Methods

Prisoner Abuse: Patterns from the Past
Cold War U.S. Interrogation Manuals Counseled "Coercive Techniques"

Eyes on Saddam
U.S. overhead imagery of Iraq

The U-2, OXCART, and the SR-71
U.S. aerial espionage in the Cold War and beyond

Science, Technology and the CIA
From satellites to psychics

The Pentagon's Spies
Documents detail histories of once secret spy units

Reconnaissance Flights and Sino-American Relations
Policy Developments and a Hainan Island Incident, 1969-1970

The NRO Declassified
The creation and evolution of America's secretive spy satellite agency

The National Security Agency Declassified
Updated Newly declassified directive governs interception of communications involving "U.S. persons"

U.S. Satellite Imagery, 1960-1999



Middle East and South Asia

Saddam's Iron Grip
Intelligence Reports on Saddam Hussein's Reign

State Department experts warned CENTCOM before Iraq war about lack of plans for post-war Iraq security
Planning for post-Saddam regime change began as early as October 2001

CIA Whites Out Controversial Estimate on Iraq Weapons
Main Subject of Today's Senate Intelligence Report Remains Largely Secret

Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran
New Volume Reexamines a Seminal Event in Modern Middle Eastern History

The Saddam Hussein Sourcebook
Declassified secrets from the U.S.-Iraq relationship

The October War and U.S. Policy
Kissinger gave green light for Israeli offensive violating 1973 cease-fire

Eyes on Saddam
U.S. overhead imagery of Iraq

Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein
The U.S. tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984

Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Tilt: The U.S. and the South Asian Crisis of 1971

U.S. Propaganda in the Middle East
The early Cold War version

Operation Desert Storm: Ten Years After
Documents shed light on role of intelligence, stealth technology and space systems in the Gulf War

The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup, 1953

20 Years after the Hostages
Declassified documents on Iran and the United States



The September 11th Sourcebooks

9/11 Commission Staff Report on FAA Failings Published on Web
Document Updates Previous Archive Posting on Censorship of Aviation Warnings Leading up to 9/11

Bush Administration's First Memo on al-Qaeda Declassified
Document Central to Clarke-Rice Dispute on Bush Terrorism Policy Pre-9/11

Volume I - Terrorism and U.S. Policy

Volume II - Afghanistan: Lessons from the Last War

Volume III - BIOWAR
The Nixon administration's decision to end U.S. biological warfare programs

Volume IV - The Once and Future King?
From the secret files on King Zahir's reign in Afghanistan, 1970-1973

Volume V - Anthrax at Sverdlovsk, 1979
U.S. intelligence on the deadliest modern outbreak

Volume VI - The Hunt for Bin Laden
Background on the role of Special Forces in U.S. military strategy

Volume VII - The Taliban File

Taliban File Update: U.S. Pressed Taliban to Expel Usama bin Laden Over 30 Times
Only three approaches in first year of Bush administration

The Taliban File Part III
Pakistan Provided Millions of Dollars, Arms, and "Buses Full of Adolescent Mujahid" to the Taliban in the 1990's

The Taliban File Part IV
Mullah Omar Called Washington in 1998, New Documents Show

Update: The Taliban File Part IV
Pre-9/11 U.S. Attempts to Drive Bin Laden Out of Afghanistan Repeatedly Unsuccessful, Documents Show

FAA Believed Second 9/11 Plane Heading Towards NY for Emergency Landing
Released 9/11 Hijacking Reports Further Detail Confused U.S. Response

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/index.html


This site (bookmarked) can, no doubt, provide our Research Forum with critical documentation.

[acmejack]

1. This is an excellent resource.

There are a lot of government sites that offer a tremendous wealth of data. This(The Open Congressional Research Service) is a little known site where some really neat information can be located.

edit to add what "this" is.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

2. It's a fantastic site

They also publish books - I've got "The Iran Contra Scandal" & whilst a little over obsessive on documentation, it makes for fascinating reading.

Another good site worth knowing about it FAS - the Federation of American Scientists: http://www.fas.org. I also highly recommend signing up for Steven Aftergood's "Secrecy News" (http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/ ).

Finally must mention John Young's www.cryptome.org