National Security Archive

National Security Archive

@nsarchive.bsky.social

An independent research institution that advocates for open government and uses FOIA to collect and publish declassified documents - https://nsarchive.gwu.edu - instagram.com/natsecarchive - tiktok.com/@natsecarchive

4.2K followers2.3K following309 posts

National Security Archive reposted

Michael Evans
@colombiadocs.bsky.social

I was delighted to see how the State Department's Dissent Channel factors into "The Diplomat." Since passage of the 2016 FOIA Improvement Act, the @nsarchive.bsky.social has led the fight to declassify these essential historical records. nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.eduDepartment of State’s Dissent Channel RevealedWashington D.C., March 15, 2018 - A US Foreign Service officer warned that “blatantly illegal” Congressional requests, including the use of a diplomatic pouch to smuggle gemstones and utilizing embass...

National Security Archive reposted

Stephen Schwartz
@atomicanalyst.bsky.social

Today in 1969, Nixon and Kissinger’s secret “Madman” global nuclear alert—an effort to convince the Soviet Union that Nixon would do _anything_ to end the Vietnam War, and thus intimidate North Vietnam to come to the negotiating table—began. For more, see this @nsarchive.bsky.social briefing book.

nsarchive.gwu.eduThe Movement and the “Madman”Archive Analyst, Declassified Documents, Featured in PBS Documentary

National Security Archive reposted

Freedom of the Press Foundation
@freedom.press

Replying to @freedom.press

Thanks to our esteemed panel of judges — @nsarchive.bsky.social’s Kate Doyle, @knightcolumbia.org’s @jameeljaffer.bsky.social, and @bloomberg.com’s @jasonleopold.bsky.social — for taking the time to evaluate over 120 submissions to the Penlight Prize.

freedom.pressAnnouncing Penlight Prize winners for public records reportingThe $25K top prize, awarded this year for the first time, celebrates excellence in journalism based on FOIA and state public records requests
National Security Archive
@nsarchive.bsky.social

Top national security advisers to Reagan edited the official US transcript of telephone call with Margaret Thatcher about Reykjavik to retract references to total elimination of nuclear devices and instead focus on eliminating ballistic missiles. nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.eduThe Reykjavik AftermathAfter Reykjavik, the documents show that the American side actively suppressed Ronald Reagan’s nuclear abolition ideas, while the Soviet side worried that Reykjavik was “as high” as the US would ever ...

National Security Archive reposted

Nathan Ellstrand
@nellstra.bsky.social

Via @nsarchive.bsky.social: The CIA Station in Mexico Covert Operations Targeted Student Groups Before and After Tlatelolco Massacre On 58th Anniversary, Archive Calls on CIA to Declassify All Remaining Records on 1968 Student Killings nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.eduThe CIA Station in Mexico: The Last JFK Assassination Records SecretsWashington, D.C., October 1, 2026 - The CIA continues to keep secret major substantive portions of an internal accounting of its activities in Mexico, including information on covert operations target...

National Security Archive reposted

Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi
@ajimenezbacardi.bsky.social

Not all the JFK files have been declassified! @cldorfman.bsky.social & I show at @nsarchive.bsky.social what the CIA is hiding in its redacted Mexico City Station History: CIA unilateral ops targeting student groups leading to the Tlatelolco massacre & more. nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.eduThe CIA Station in Mexico: The Last JFK Assassination Records SecretsWashington, D.C., October 1, 2026 - The CIA continues to keep secret major substantive portions of an internal accounting of its activities in Mexico, including information on covert operations target...
National Security Archive
@nsarchive.bsky.social

The CIA continues to keep secret substantive portions of an internal history of its activities in Mexico, including information on covert operations targeting student groups in the days leading up to the massacre at Tlatelolco 58 years ago this week. nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.eduThe CIA Station in Mexico: The Last JFK Assassination Records SecretsWashington, D.C., October 1, 2026 - The CIA continues to keep secret major substantive portions of an internal accounting of its activities in Mexico, including information on covert operations target...
National Security Archive
@nsarchive.bsky.social

But other CIA documents from the JFK assassination files offer clues as to what the Agency is hiding. A close reading of the redacted history and related docs from @cldorfman.bsky.social & @ajimenezbacardi.bsky.social reveals what the CIA is most eager to conceal. nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.eduThe CIA Station in Mexico: The Last JFK Assassination Records SecretsWashington, D.C., October 1, 2026 - The CIA continues to keep secret major substantive portions of an internal accounting of its activities in Mexico, including information on covert operations target...
National Security Archive
@nsarchive.bsky.social

"In April 1951, the [US and Denmark] reached an agreement on the 'defense of Greenland' that ... confirmed Danish sovereignty, and delineated three 'defense areas' for use by the United States, with additional areas subject to future negotiations." nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.eduThe United States and Greenland, Part I: Episodes in Nuclear History 1947-1968Washington, D.C., June 3, 2025 - The Trump administration’s intention to acquire Greenland, including possibly by force, has put a focus on the history of its strategic interest to U.S. policymakers. ...
National Security Archive
@nsarchive.bsky.social

“All Roads Lead Through China”: The Clinton Administration, Climate Diplomacy, and China’s Environmental Awakening nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.edu“All Roads Lead Through China”: The Clinton Administration, Climate Diplomacy, and China’s Environmental AwakeningWashington, D.C., September 17, 2026 - As U.S. officials prepared for the landmark 1997 Conference of Parties (COP) climate negotiations in Kyoto, Japan, they increasingly recognized a simple reality:...

National Security Archive reposted

National Security Archive
@nsarchive.bsky.social

Transforming the Mission: New Documents on the Soviet Military’s Reorientation to a Defensive Posture in Europe nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.eduTransforming the Mission: The Soviet Military’s Reorientation to a Defensive Posture in EuropeWashington, D.C., August 31, 2026 - The “fundamental reevaluation” that took place in the Kremlin under General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev not only encompassed the political, ideological, and economi...
National Security Archive
@nsarchive.bsky.social

Transforming the Mission: New Documents on the Soviet Military’s Reorientation to a Defensive Posture in Europe nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.eduTransforming the Mission: The Soviet Military’s Reorientation to a Defensive Posture in EuropeWashington, D.C., August 31, 2026 - The “fundamental reevaluation” that took place in the Kremlin under General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev not only encompassed the political, ideological, and economi...

National Security Archive reposted

Jack Murphy
@jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social

Brother I put in a FOIA request for my own damned medical records and they have been sitting on it for over a year.

National Security Archive@nsarchive.bsky.social

The Pentagon continues to send out blanket "Still Interested" letters in an effort to purge FOIA requests from a backlog of long-pending declassification petitions despite a recent ruling that agencies do not have the authority to do so.

National Security Archive reposted

National Security Archive
@nsarchive.bsky.social

Replying to @nsarchive.bsky.social

The recent ruling from US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson found that then FOIA “does not authorize defendants to issue a blanket requirement that all requesters reiterate their interest in pending requests.” federalnewsnetwork.com/litigation/2...

federalnewsnetwork.comJudge throws out DOE’s blanket ‘still interested’ FOIA policy | Federal News NetworkThe Energy Department tried to use a mass "still interested" notice to close older FOIA requests. A federal judge found the agency had no authority to do that.

National Security Archive reposted

National Security Archive
@nsarchive.bsky.social

The Pentagon continues to send out blanket "Still Interested" letters in an effort to purge FOIA requests from a backlog of long-pending declassification petitions despite a recent ruling that agencies do not have the authority to do so.

National Security Archive
@nsarchive.bsky.social

The Pentagon continues to send out blanket "Still Interested" letters in an effort to purge FOIA requests from a backlog of long-pending declassification petitions despite a recent ruling that agencies do not have the authority to do so.

National Security Archive
@nsarchive.bsky.social

A National Security Archive FOIA audit from 2021 found that many agencies used "Still Interested" letters to unlawfully close long-pending FOIA requests. nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.edu“Still Interested” Letters Add Insult to Injury of Long-Ignored FOIA RequestsWashington D.C., March 12, 2021 - The Defense Department finally replied to the National Security Archive’s September 2006 FOIA request early last year. After nearly 15 years of waiting, on January 24...

National Security Archive reposted

Fieldnotes
@fieldnotes.co

The oil & gas industry wants the Trump admin to maintain the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program but hollow out methane reporting requirements, allowing corporations to continue undercounting the climate pollutant. @rsanta.bsky.social reports for @nsarchive.bsky.social and @desmog.com bit.ly/4geZ5Ic

bit.lyInside the Struggle to Dismantle America’s Greenhouse Gas DataNew accounts show the oil and gas industry trying to weaken methane reporting while saving the federal emissions system it relies on.

National Security Archive reposted

Rachel Santarsiero
@rsanta.bsky.social

Last year, I filed a FOIA request with the EPA for documents about the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. What I got back led me down a rabbit hole of industry influence on our government’s emissions reporting. My latest for @nsarchive.bsky.social and @desmog.com: nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

nsarchive.gwu.eduInside the Struggle to Dismantle America’s Greenhouse Gas DataWashington, D.C., August 18, 2026 – The fossil fuel industry is trying to weaken methane reporting requirements while simultaneously fighting to preserve the related federal emissions database it reli...

National Security Archive reposted

Rachel Santarsiero
@rsanta.bsky.social

New documents detail industry’s attempts to loosen federal methane pollution reporting requirements while simultaneously urging the US government to preserve the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. Read the investigation for @desmog.com and @nsarchive.bsky.social: www.desmog.com/2026/08/18/t...

desmog.comInside the Struggle to Dismantle America’s Greenhouse Gas DataNew accounts show the oil and gas industry trying to weaken methane reporting while saving the federal emissions system it relies on.

National Security Archive reposted

Stephen Schwartz
@atomicanalyst.bsky.social

Replying to @atomicanalyst.bsky.social

See also this collection of recently available memoranda, correspondence, and reports from the personal office files of General Groves, published in 2024 by the @nsarchive.bsky.social at The George Washington University:

nsarchive.gwu.eduManhattan Project Director’s Files Illuminate Early History of Atomic BombWashington, D.C., August 8, 2024 – On the week of the 79th commemoration of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, the National Security Archive today publishes a fascinating new c...

National Security Archive reposted

Stephen Schwartz
@atomicanalyst.bsky.social

Replying to @atomicanalyst.bsky.social

See also the many additional declassified documents in this updated briefing book published last year by the @nsarchive.bsky.social, including a May 1944 letter stating the goal of the attacks was that “there will be the maximum number of structures (dwellings and factories) damaged beyond repair.”

nsarchive.gwu.eduThe Atomic Bombings of Japan and the End of World War II, 80 Years LaterThe first full U.S. report on the results of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, 80 years ago this week, made a “conservative estimate” that around 100,000 people had been killed, according to a newly pu...