The National Security Archive is a non‐governmental, non‐profit institution that primarily serves as a library and archive of declassified US documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Founded in 1985 by a group of journalists and scholars, the Archive indexes the materials, makes them accessible to the public, and builds comprehensive collections of documents on specific topics of interest to scholars and the public. The documents are published in books, microfiche, and electronic formats. These publications, many of which are written by the staff, are available for purchase.
The Archive’s approximately $1.5 million per year budget comes from publication revenues and from private philanthropists such as the Carnegie Corporation and the Ford Foundation. It is housed in the George Washington University’s Gelman Library in Washington, DC. The Archive’s Web site is currently hosted by the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the George Washington University.
This Web site does not serve as a gateway to the Archive’s mainframe computer system which hosts major databases of released documents (over 90,000 records), authority files of individuals and organizations in international affairs, and FOIA requests filed by Archive staff and outside requesters on international affairs. Rather, it is used to provide the public with information on the Archive’s purpose, its services, its publications, and to provide access to the full‐text of selected documents. For instance, researchers will find materials that were supplied in the Archive’s Document of the Month program. This program was initiated in 1991 to stimulate discussion and allow the Archive to circulate its documents to a wider audience. Every month or so, a document of historical or topical interest is selected from the Archive’s FOIA acquisitions and sent to Archive funders, librarians, the news media, and other researchers. By presenting and archiving these documents on the Web site, the Archive staff hope to reach a wider audience. Topics available on the Web include the Bush‐National Archives Agreement, the Woerner Report on El Salvador, and the State Department’s Overview for US‐Japan Structural Dialogue.
Internet users are greeted by a colorful and user‐friendly home page. New additions and special topics, such as Kissinger’s transcripts and the secret CIA report on the Honduran military, are highlighted at the top of the page. Detailed icons help the user identify the major topic areas of the site. Quick access is provided to the materials on the Cuban Missile Crisis, Nuclear History, the Nixon‐Presley Meeting, White House E‐mail, and the US‐Japan project. A researcher’s guide for using the physical facility, internship opportunities, news and events, and directories for the staff, the advisory board, and supporters are supplied. Summaries and ordering information are provided for the Archive’s publications. Another section provides the full text of the Freedom of Information Act, the 1996 amendments, and an informative user’s guide about FOIA requests.
One major research area is nuclear weapons issues and their history. Internet users have access to sample documents from the Archive’s published collections that illustrate some of the major themes of US strategic nuclear policy. One document each is supplied under the issues of strategic nuclear delivery systems, strategic nuclear targeting, nuclear weapons deployments, nuclear weapons safety, command and control and warning, agreements with foreign governments on use of nuclear weapons, strategic intelligence, and nuclear weapons proliferation. Also available are the data obtained by the Archive from the original Internet site for the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE) including committee data, sources, meetings, and the interim report.
Links to related projects in which the National Security Archive has been a major contributor is provided at the bottom of the home page. The Internet user has access to the full text of key documents and interview transcripts for the CNN series, Cold War. Another link connects to the Cold War International History Project Web site. Cold War scholars will find a document library which can be browsed by topic or searched by keywords.
The unique information supplied at this well‐organized Web site will prove valuable for the advanced researcher and scholar. Selected reports not available online can be downloaded in PDF format. Documents and photos load in a timely manner, although quality and detail may be somewhat lacking due to the condition of the originals. The site will undoubtedly grow as more documents become declassifed. This is a very useful site for providing materials to enrich research and public debate on the US foreign policy bureaucracy.
