National Security Archive

National Security Archive
Name	National Security Archive
Type	Nonprofit research institute and library
Founded	1985
Founder	William Burr; Tom Blanton; Allen Weinstein
Location	Washington, D.C.
Focus	Declassified documents; Freedom of Information; U.S. foreign policy

Contents

National Security Archive The National Security Archive is an independent nonprofit research institute and library that collects, publishes, and litigates for declassified U.S. documents related to United States foreign policy, Cold War, Vietnam War, Watergate and other major historical events. It uses the Freedom of Information Act, litigation, and archival research to make materials available to scholars, journalists, and the public, informing debates about Presidency of Richard Nixon, Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, Presidency of John F. Kennedy and other administrations.

History and founding

The Archive was founded in 1985 by former United States Department of State historian Allen Weinstein together with Tom Blanton and William Burr amid renewed interest in records from the Pentagon Papers, the Church Committee, and revelations from the Iran–Contra affair. Early supporters included scholars from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, former officials from the Central Intelligence Agency, and journalists who had worked on reporting for the New York Times and the Washington Post. The founding responded to legal precedents such as the Freedom of Information Act litigation around the Pentagon Papers and rulings from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that shaped declassification practices.

The Archive's mission includes preserving declassified documents related to United States national security policy, promoting transparency through litigation under the Freedom of Information Act, and publishing digital collections and briefing books for users ranging from scholars at Harvard University and Georgetown University to journalists at the New Yorker and the Los Angeles Times. Activities encompass filing FOIA requests with agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the National Security Council, litigating in federal courts including the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and collaborating with international partners such as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

The Archive's collections include declassified cables, memoranda, transcripts, and intelligence assessments concerning events like the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Soviet–Afghan War, and the Iranian Revolution. Notable releases have illuminated episodes involving the Chilean coup d'état, 1973, the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, the Gulf War, and the Rwandan genocide. The Archive has published briefing books containing documents from the National Security Council on the Yom Kippur War, State Department files on the Camp David Accords, and declassified Central Intelligence Agency analyses used during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Vietnam War.

The Archive has litigated FOIA cases against agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, and the Department of Defense to compel release of records about events such as the Watergate scandal, the El Mozote massacre, and covert operations tied to the Cold War. Litigations have proceeded through the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and reached the United States Supreme Court on matters of classification and exemption, building on precedents like New York Times Co. v. United States and CIA v. Sims. The organization also advocates for administrative reforms at the National Archives and Records Administration and for policy changes in declassification guidelines used by the Presidential Records Act implementation.

Documents released through the Archive have reshaped scholarship at institutions such as Columbia University, Stanford University, Yale University, and Oxford University about the Cold War, Vietnam War, and U.S. interventions in Latin America. Its materials have been cited in monographs on the Bay of Pigs Invasion, biographies of figures like Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon, and policy analyses by think tanks including the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations. Journalistic investigations by reporters at the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and ProPublica have relied on its releases to reframe public understanding of events such as the Iran–Contra affair and the Gulf War.

The Archive operates as an independent nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., governed by a board that has included former officials from the State Department, academics from Georgetown University and the University of Virginia, and journalists from outlets like the Washington Post. Funding sources have included private foundations such as the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, grants from institutions like the National Endowment for the Humanities, and donations from individual patrons and family foundations associated with scholars and former diplomats. Staff attorneys, archivists, and researchers have come from backgrounds at the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, the Central Intelligence Agency, and academic centers such as the Kennan Institute.