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The Top Secret History of America’s Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Warfare Programs and Their Deployment Overseas
At its peak in 1967, the U.S. nuclear arsenal consisted of 31,255 nuclear weapons with an aggregate destructive power of 12,786 megatons – more than sufficient to wipe out all of humanity several hundred times over. Much less known is that hidden away in earth-covered bunkers spread throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan, over 40,000 tons of American chemical weapons were stored, as well as thousands of specially designed bombs that could be filled with even deadlier biological warfare agents.
The American WMD programs remain cloaked in secrecy, yet a substantial number of revealing documents have been quietly declassified since the late 1970s. Put together, they tell the story of how America secretly built up the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The documents explain the role these weapons played in a series of world crises, how they shaped U.S. and NATO defense and foreign policy during the Cold War, and what incidents and nearly averted disasters happened. Moreover, they shed a light on the dreadful human and ecological legacy left by decades of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons manufacturing and testing in the U.S. and overseas.
This collection contains more than 2,300 formerly classified U.S. government documents, most of them classified Top Secret or higher. Covering the period from the end of World War II to the present day, it provides unique access to previously unpublished reports, memoranda, cables, intelligence briefs, classified articles, PowerPoint presentations, military manuals and directives, and other declassified documents. Following years of archival research and careful selection, they were brought together from the U.S. National Archives, ten U.S. presidential libraries, the NATO Archives in Brussels, the National Archives of the UK, the National Archives of Canada, and the National Archives of the Netherlands. In addition, a sizeable number of documents in this collection were obtained from the U.S. government and the Pentagon using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) requests.
This collection comes with several auxiliary aids, including a chronology and a historiographical essay with links to the documents themselves, providing context and allowing for easy navigation for both students and scholars.
Highlights:
• The papers in this collection detail how America’s stockpiles of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons were developed, the staggering costs that were involved, the network of laboratories where the bombs and their components were designed and developed, new details about the dozens of secret factories spread across the U.S. where these lethal bombs and warheads were built, the sites where they were tested, and even newly released information about some of the storage depots where the weapons were deployed in the U.S. and overseas.
• This collection contains for the first time ever a comprehensive set of declassified documents which quantify the size and destructive power of the American nuclear, chemical and biological weapons stockpile throughout the Cold War era, including new details about the many different types of weapons in these arsenals, such as nuclear landmines (Atomic Demolition Munitions) and even a nuclear-capable recoilless rifle system.
• This collection contains hundreds of pages of declassified Defense Department and State Department documents concerning the secret negotiations between the U.S. government and over fifteen foreign governments concerning the deployment of nuclear and chemical weapons to their countries (complete biological weapons were never deployed overseas), as well as the even more difficult task later in the Cold War of trying to get permission to remove these weapons after they had outlived their usefulness. In some instances, the U.S. government deliberately did not inform the host nations that they had deployed nuclear and chemical weapons to their countries, as in the case of Japan, which was shocked to learn in 1969 that the U.S. was storing large numbers of nuclear and chemical weapons on the island of Okinawa without their knowledge or consent.
• Also included are over a hundred declassified documents regarding U.S. nuclear war plans, detailing how the American nuclear, chemical and biological weapons were to be used in wartime, including lists of their targets inside the USSR and the People’s Republic of China; newly declassified documents containing the details of all known nuclear, chemical and biological weapons accidents, some of which produced fatal results; and incidents involving attempts by foreign governments (Greece, Turkey and South Korea) to pressure the U.S. government by threatening to seize American nuclear weapons stored on their soil. Finally, there are recently released files concerning an attempt by a terrorist group to penetrate a U.S. nuclear weapons storage site in West Germany.
Number of documents: 2,374
Number of pages: ca. 21,212
Auxiliary aids:
• Introductory essay
• Glossary of acronyms
• Chronology
• Bibliography
• MARC21 catalog records
Sourcing archives:
• U.S. National Archives, Legislative Archives Branch, Washington, D.C.
• U.S. National Archives. Military Records Branch, College Park, Maryland
• U.S. National Archives, Civilian Records Branch, College Park, Maryland
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Archives, Brussels, Belgium
• National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
• National Archives of the Netherlands, The Hague, The Netherlands
• National Archives of the UK, Kew, Great Britain
• Washington National Records Center, Suitland, Maryland
• Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri
• Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
• John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts
• Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
• Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda, California
• Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, Georgia
• Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
• George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, Houston, Texas
• William J. Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock, Arkansas
• Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
• DOD FOIA Reading Room, The Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
• U.S. Army Center for Military History, Washington, D.C.
• Naval Historical Center Operational Archives, Washington, D.C.
• U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
• Department of Energy, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Washington, D.C.
• Douglas MacArthur Library, Norfolk, Virginia (Douglas MacArthur Papers)
• George C. Marshall Library, Lexington, Virginia (George C. Marshall Papers)
• Mudd Library, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (George W. Ball Papers)
• National Security Archive, Washington, D.C. (Chuck Hansen Collection)
• Maryland Historical Trust, Annapolis, Maryland
See also the companion collections Cold War Intelligence, U.S. Intelligence on Asia, 1945-1991, U.S. Intelligence on Europe, 1945-1995, and U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009.
The American WMD programs remain cloaked in secrecy, yet a substantial number of revealing documents have been quietly declassified since the late 1970s. Put together, they tell the story of how America secretly built up the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The documents explain the role these weapons played in a series of world crises, how they shaped U.S. and NATO defense and foreign policy during the Cold War, and what incidents and nearly averted disasters happened. Moreover, they shed a light on the dreadful human and ecological legacy left by decades of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons manufacturing and testing in the U.S. and overseas.
This collection contains more than 2,300 formerly classified U.S. government documents, most of them classified Top Secret or higher. Covering the period from the end of World War II to the present day, it provides unique access to previously unpublished reports, memoranda, cables, intelligence briefs, classified articles, PowerPoint presentations, military manuals and directives, and other declassified documents. Following years of archival research and careful selection, they were brought together from the U.S. National Archives, ten U.S. presidential libraries, the NATO Archives in Brussels, the National Archives of the UK, the National Archives of Canada, and the National Archives of the Netherlands. In addition, a sizeable number of documents in this collection were obtained from the U.S. government and the Pentagon using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) requests.
This collection comes with several auxiliary aids, including a chronology and a historiographical essay with links to the documents themselves, providing context and allowing for easy navigation for both students and scholars.
Highlights:
• The papers in this collection detail how America’s stockpiles of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons were developed, the staggering costs that were involved, the network of laboratories where the bombs and their components were designed and developed, new details about the dozens of secret factories spread across the U.S. where these lethal bombs and warheads were built, the sites where they were tested, and even newly released information about some of the storage depots where the weapons were deployed in the U.S. and overseas.
• This collection contains for the first time ever a comprehensive set of declassified documents which quantify the size and destructive power of the American nuclear, chemical and biological weapons stockpile throughout the Cold War era, including new details about the many different types of weapons in these arsenals, such as nuclear landmines (Atomic Demolition Munitions) and even a nuclear-capable recoilless rifle system.
• This collection contains hundreds of pages of declassified Defense Department and State Department documents concerning the secret negotiations between the U.S. government and over fifteen foreign governments concerning the deployment of nuclear and chemical weapons to their countries (complete biological weapons were never deployed overseas), as well as the even more difficult task later in the Cold War of trying to get permission to remove these weapons after they had outlived their usefulness. In some instances, the U.S. government deliberately did not inform the host nations that they had deployed nuclear and chemical weapons to their countries, as in the case of Japan, which was shocked to learn in 1969 that the U.S. was storing large numbers of nuclear and chemical weapons on the island of Okinawa without their knowledge or consent.
• Also included are over a hundred declassified documents regarding U.S. nuclear war plans, detailing how the American nuclear, chemical and biological weapons were to be used in wartime, including lists of their targets inside the USSR and the People’s Republic of China; newly declassified documents containing the details of all known nuclear, chemical and biological weapons accidents, some of which produced fatal results; and incidents involving attempts by foreign governments (Greece, Turkey and South Korea) to pressure the U.S. government by threatening to seize American nuclear weapons stored on their soil. Finally, there are recently released files concerning an attempt by a terrorist group to penetrate a U.S. nuclear weapons storage site in West Germany.
Number of documents: 2,374
Number of pages: ca. 21,212
Auxiliary aids:
• Introductory essay
• Glossary of acronyms
• Chronology
• Bibliography
• MARC21 catalog records
Sourcing archives:
• U.S. National Archives, Legislative Archives Branch, Washington, D.C.
• U.S. National Archives. Military Records Branch, College Park, Maryland
• U.S. National Archives, Civilian Records Branch, College Park, Maryland
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Archives, Brussels, Belgium
• National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
• National Archives of the Netherlands, The Hague, The Netherlands
• National Archives of the UK, Kew, Great Britain
• Washington National Records Center, Suitland, Maryland
• Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri
• Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
• John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts
• Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
• Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda, California
• Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, Georgia
• Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
• George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, Houston, Texas
• William J. Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock, Arkansas
• Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
• DOD FOIA Reading Room, The Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
• U.S. Army Center for Military History, Washington, D.C.
• Naval Historical Center Operational Archives, Washington, D.C.
• U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
• Department of Energy, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Washington, D.C.
• Douglas MacArthur Library, Norfolk, Virginia (Douglas MacArthur Papers)
• George C. Marshall Library, Lexington, Virginia (George C. Marshall Papers)
• Mudd Library, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (George W. Ball Papers)
• National Security Archive, Washington, D.C. (Chuck Hansen Collection)
• Maryland Historical Trust, Annapolis, Maryland
See also the companion collections Cold War Intelligence, U.S. Intelligence on Asia, 1945-1991, U.S. Intelligence on Europe, 1945-1995, and U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009.
This collection consists of official Dutch-American diplomatic correspondence covering the period from 1784 to 1973. Taken together, the documents of this collection help scholars to shed further light on some of the most important watersheds in both European and American history and clarify the historical evolution of transatlantic relations from Thomas Jefferson to the end of the Bretton Woods System.
The collection chiefly contains State Department’s instructions to US diplomats and consuls dispatched in the Netherlands as well as letters, reports, recommendations, dossiers, and memos compiled by American diplomats posted in The Hague and across the whole Dutch colonial empire. The documents cover a broad range of topics including political, economic, and military relations, trade policies, migration, cultural and religious exchanges, and transnational social issues such as civil rights, pacifism, environmentalism, labor relations, and human rights.
A large part of the collection focuses on the post-1945 era and comprises papers on the development and execution of the Marshall Plan in the Netherlands, on the future of the Dutch colonial empire, and on the development of post-war European and Dutch politics. The postwar dispatches from The Hague are indeed an extremely useful source through which to read the evolution of the European integration process, the building of a transatlantic security community, the organization of concerted anti-communist activities, and the reactions to the emergence of a widespread anti-American sentiment in Europe in coincidence with the escalation of the Vietnam War.
This collection comprises 174,926 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Reijn Dirksen, 1950 (US Economic Cooperation Administration, Washington, DC) - Public Domain
The collection chiefly contains State Department’s instructions to US diplomats and consuls dispatched in the Netherlands as well as letters, reports, recommendations, dossiers, and memos compiled by American diplomats posted in The Hague and across the whole Dutch colonial empire. The documents cover a broad range of topics including political, economic, and military relations, trade policies, migration, cultural and religious exchanges, and transnational social issues such as civil rights, pacifism, environmentalism, labor relations, and human rights.
A large part of the collection focuses on the post-1945 era and comprises papers on the development and execution of the Marshall Plan in the Netherlands, on the future of the Dutch colonial empire, and on the development of post-war European and Dutch politics. The postwar dispatches from The Hague are indeed an extremely useful source through which to read the evolution of the European integration process, the building of a transatlantic security community, the organization of concerted anti-communist activities, and the reactions to the emergence of a widespread anti-American sentiment in Europe in coincidence with the escalation of the Vietnam War.
This collection comprises 174,926 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Reijn Dirksen, 1950 (US Economic Cooperation Administration, Washington, DC) - Public Domain
Papers of the Dutch-American Fulbright Program
In September 1945, Democratic freshman Senator from Arkansas James William Fulbright launched the idea to organize a worldwide system of academic exchanges. His goal was to improve intercultural relations between the US and other countries through the mutual exchange of knowledge, skills, and projects. Within a year, President Truman signed the Fulbright Act, which allowed 35 foreigners to study in the US and 65 Americans to refine their studies abroad. Since then, the Fulbright Program, coordinated by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, has expanded worldwide with projects, grants, and funding schemes that have so far seen the participation of more than 370,000 people including Nobel Prize laureates, Pulitzer Prize recipients, and students, researchers, and teachers at all the academic levels.
In 1949, the Fulbright Program was set up in the Netherlands as well. In order to better coordinate academic exchanges between the Netherlands and the US, the two countries formally established a bilateral United States Educational Foundation (USEF) in Amsterdam. Since then, that organization has changed its name twice. In 1972, USEF became the Netherlands America Committee for Educational Exchange (NACEE). NACEE in turn became the Fulbright Center in 2004. The documents collected by the USEF, NACEE, and the Fulbright Center are held by the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS) in Middelburg. However, due to privacy regulations and classification, the only part of this collection that is digitally available is its Section G.
Section G contains a large variety of historical sources on the foundation and development of the NACEE and the Fulbright Center, including speeches by and on Senator Fulbright, papers related to an earlier exchange organization, the Netherland-America Foundation, and personal recollections of alumni. Section G is therefore the perfect starting point for any research aimed at discovering the historical development of such a relevant cultural program.
This collection comprises 6,848 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Joop van Bilsen / Anefo, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and prince Bernhard receive the US Senator J. William Fulbright and his wife in Baarn, Utrecht, 1964 (Nationaal Archief, The Hague) - CC0
In 1949, the Fulbright Program was set up in the Netherlands as well. In order to better coordinate academic exchanges between the Netherlands and the US, the two countries formally established a bilateral United States Educational Foundation (USEF) in Amsterdam. Since then, that organization has changed its name twice. In 1972, USEF became the Netherlands America Committee for Educational Exchange (NACEE). NACEE in turn became the Fulbright Center in 2004. The documents collected by the USEF, NACEE, and the Fulbright Center are held by the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS) in Middelburg. However, due to privacy regulations and classification, the only part of this collection that is digitally available is its Section G.
Section G contains a large variety of historical sources on the foundation and development of the NACEE and the Fulbright Center, including speeches by and on Senator Fulbright, papers related to an earlier exchange organization, the Netherland-America Foundation, and personal recollections of alumni. Section G is therefore the perfect starting point for any research aimed at discovering the historical development of such a relevant cultural program.
This collection comprises 6,848 scans and is part of Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, which is the result of ongoing cooperation between the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and Brill.
Image caption: Joop van Bilsen / Anefo, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and prince Bernhard receive the US Senator J. William Fulbright and his wife in Baarn, Utrecht, 1964 (Nationaal Archief, The Hague) - CC0
Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies
The Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS) is an archive, public library, research center, and graduate school based in Middelburg, the Netherlands. Established in 1986 as the Roosevelt Study Center and completely renovated in 2017, the RIAS’s mission is to foster the study of American history in Europe, to facilitate research on the history of American politics, culture, and society, and to explore the historical development and trajectories of Dutch-American and, generally, transatlantic relations. The RIAS carries out such a mission under its motto “Pursuing the Rooseveltian Century,” which means that it supports academic research investigating the evolution of American society and its institutional settings, the changing nature of the relationship between the US government and its citizenry, the consolidation of modern political leadership, the evolution of American diplomacy and empire, and the performative roles played domestically and internationally by such ideas as freedom, security, and equality.
The RIAS holds hundreds of thousands of documents that help scholars and students at any level to investigate the complexity of American history. The RIAS collections focus on a variety of issues, such as civil rights, national security, intelligence, propaganda, radicalism, religion, and diplomacy. Collected over more than thirty years, these documents include presidential papers, personal correspondence and oral histories, departmental files, NGO records, diaries, memoires, historical periodicals, and journals.
In order to make its materials available to a larger audience, the RIAS, in cooperation with Brill, has recently started digitizing some of its most prominent holdings. Organized into the expanding online archival family Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and comprising, in this initial iteration, more than 200,000 scans, the digital archive currently consists of four different collections:
- Dutch-American Diplomatic Relations Online, 1784-1973
- The Fulbright Archives Online, 1949-2016 (excerpts): Papers of the Dutch-American Fulbright Program
- Dutch-Catholic Immigration to the Americas Online: The Henk van Stekelenburg Collection, 1820-1960
- Dutch-Protestant Immigration to the Americas Online: The Stallinga-Ganzevoort Collection, 1890-1960
Together, these collections provide unique insights into the history of Dutch-American relations, the development of transatlantic cultural programs, and the history of Dutch and European migration to North America. They are of particular interest to scholars working on cultural and public diplomacy, political and economic relations, migration flows, cross-cultural exchanges, the role of religion in foreign policy making, and the attractiveness of and resistance to American political, cultural, and economic hegemony in Europe.
The RIAS holds hundreds of thousands of documents that help scholars and students at any level to investigate the complexity of American history. The RIAS collections focus on a variety of issues, such as civil rights, national security, intelligence, propaganda, radicalism, religion, and diplomacy. Collected over more than thirty years, these documents include presidential papers, personal correspondence and oral histories, departmental files, NGO records, diaries, memoires, historical periodicals, and journals.
In order to make its materials available to a larger audience, the RIAS, in cooperation with Brill, has recently started digitizing some of its most prominent holdings. Organized into the expanding online archival family Transatlantic Relations Online: Digital Archives of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies and comprising, in this initial iteration, more than 200,000 scans, the digital archive currently consists of four different collections:
- Dutch-American Diplomatic Relations Online, 1784-1973
- The Fulbright Archives Online, 1949-2016 (excerpts): Papers of the Dutch-American Fulbright Program
- Dutch-Catholic Immigration to the Americas Online: The Henk van Stekelenburg Collection, 1820-1960
- Dutch-Protestant Immigration to the Americas Online: The Stallinga-Ganzevoort Collection, 1890-1960
Together, these collections provide unique insights into the history of Dutch-American relations, the development of transatlantic cultural programs, and the history of Dutch and European migration to North America. They are of particular interest to scholars working on cultural and public diplomacy, political and economic relations, migration flows, cross-cultural exchanges, the role of religion in foreign policy making, and the attractiveness of and resistance to American political, cultural, and economic hegemony in Europe.
This unique series of formerly classified U.S. government documents provides scholars and students with a comprehensive survey of the U.S. intelligence community’s activities in various parts of the world from the end of World War II to the present day.
The following collections are available:
• Cold War Intelligence
• U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009
• U.S. Intelligence on Europe, 1945-1995
• U.S. Intelligence on Asia, 1945-1991
• Weapons of Mass Destruction
The following collections are available:
• Cold War Intelligence
• U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009
• U.S. Intelligence on Europe, 1945-1995
• U.S. Intelligence on Asia, 1945-1991
• Weapons of Mass Destruction
The purpose of this unique online collection is to provide students and researchers with the declassified documentary record about the successes and failures of the U.S. intelligence community in the Far East during the Cold War (1945-1991). Particular emphasis is given to America’s principal antagonists in Asia during the Cold War era: the People’s Republic of China, North Korea and North Vietnam. However, countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia are covered as well.
Number of documents: 4,285
Number of pages: ca. 23,500
Auxiliary aids:
- Introductory essay
- Glossary of acronyms
- Chronology
- Bibliography
- MARC21 catalog records
Sourcing archives:
- National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, Maryland
- CIA-CREST database
- Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
- John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts
- Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
- Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda, California
- Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, Georgia
- Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
- Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
- U.S. Army Center for Military History, Washington, D.C.
- U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
- Naval Historical Center Operational Archives, Washington, D.C.
- Douglas MacArthur Library, Norfolk, Virginia
- National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, UK
- National Archives of Australia, Canberra, Australia
- Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
- Archives of the National Defense University, Washington, D.C.
- Archives of the Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
See also the companion collections: Cold War Intelligence, U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009, U.S. Intelligence on Europe, 1945-1995, and Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Number of documents: 4,285
Number of pages: ca. 23,500
Auxiliary aids:
- Introductory essay
- Glossary of acronyms
- Chronology
- Bibliography
- MARC21 catalog records
Sourcing archives:
- National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, Maryland
- CIA-CREST database
- Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
- John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts
- Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
- Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda, California
- Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, Georgia
- Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
- Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
- U.S. Army Center for Military History, Washington, D.C.
- U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
- Naval Historical Center Operational Archives, Washington, D.C.
- Douglas MacArthur Library, Norfolk, Virginia
- National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, UK
- National Archives of Australia, Canberra, Australia
- Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
- Archives of the National Defense University, Washington, D.C.
- Archives of the Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
See also the companion collections: Cold War Intelligence, U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009, U.S. Intelligence on Europe, 1945-1995, and Weapons of Mass Destruction.
This unique collection of over 4,000 formerly classified U.S. government documents provides a comprehensive survey of the U.S. intelligence community’s activities in Europe, including Eastern Europe, Turkey and Cyprus, covering the time period from the end of World War II to the fall of the Iron Curtain and beyond.
Scope:
U.S. Intelligence operations in Western Europe
U.S. Intelligence operations in Eastern Europe
U.S. Intelligence gathering on Western European communist parties
Economic intelligence gathering
Monitoring European anti-nuclear groups in the 1980s
Intelligence gathering on terrorist groups
Analyses of European socio-economic developments
Number of documents: 4,023
Number of pages: ca. 21,000
Auxiliary aids:
- Introductory essay
- Glossary of acronyms
- Chronology
- Bibliography
- MARC21 catalog records
Sourcing archives:
- National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, Maryland
- CIA-CREST database
- Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
- George H.W. Bush Library, Houston, Texas
- John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts
- Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
- Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda, California
- Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, Georgia
- Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
- Hoover Institution Archives, Palo Alto, California
- Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
- George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia
- General Douglas MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, Virginia
- National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, England
See also the companion collections: Cold War Intelligence, U.S. Intelligence on Asia, 1945-1991, U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009, and Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Scope:
U.S. Intelligence operations in Western Europe
U.S. Intelligence operations in Eastern Europe
U.S. Intelligence gathering on Western European communist parties
Economic intelligence gathering
Monitoring European anti-nuclear groups in the 1980s
Intelligence gathering on terrorist groups
Analyses of European socio-economic developments
Number of documents: 4,023
Number of pages: ca. 21,000
Auxiliary aids:
- Introductory essay
- Glossary of acronyms
- Chronology
- Bibliography
- MARC21 catalog records
Sourcing archives:
- National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, Maryland
- CIA-CREST database
- Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
- George H.W. Bush Library, Houston, Texas
- John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts
- Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
- Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda, California
- Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, Georgia
- Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
- Hoover Institution Archives, Palo Alto, California
- Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
- George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia
- General Douglas MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, Virginia
- National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, England
See also the companion collections: Cold War Intelligence, U.S. Intelligence on Asia, 1945-1991, U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009, and Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Since 1945, the U.S. intelligence community has had to cover a half dozen major wars and several dozen smaller but equally bloody armed conflicts in the Middle East, as well as innumerable civil wars, border clashes, armed insurgencies, and terrorist attacks. This comprehensive document set sheds light on the U.S. intelligence community’s spying and analytic efforts in the Arab world, including the Middle East, the Near East, and North Africa. It covers the time period from the end of World War II to the present day, up until the 2002-2003 Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) assessments, the Global War on Terror, the Iraq War, and Iran’s nuclear program.
Topics covered
U.S. Recognition of Israel and the 1948 Middle East War
Overthrowing Mohammed Mossadeq in Iran (1953)
1956 Middle East War
1967 Middle East War
Israel and the Atomic Bomb
Muammar Qadhafi’s 1969 Coup in Libya
1973 Middle East War
1973-1974 OPEC Oil Embargo
The Fall of the Shah of Iran and the Rise of Ayatollah Khomeini (1978-1979)
Iran-Iraq War (September 1980- August 1988)
Lebanon (1982-1984)
The Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait (1990)
The Iraqi WMD Intelligence Assessments (2002-2003)
The Abortive Syrian Nuclear Program (2006-2007)
The Iranian Nuclear Program (1970s-present)
The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism
The U.S.-Israeli Intelligence Relationship
Spying on Israel
Number of documents: 2,740
Number of pages: 19,500
Auxiliary aids:
- Introductory essay
- Glossary of acronyms
- Glossary of organizations
- Glossary of personalities
- Chronology
- Bibliography
Sourcing archives:
- National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, Maryland
- CIA-CREST database
- Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
- John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts
- Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
- Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda, California
- Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, Georgia
- Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
- Hoover Institution Archives, Palo Alto, California
- Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
- George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia
- General Douglas MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, Virginia
- National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, England
See also the companion collections: Cold War Intelligence, U.S. Intelligence on Asia, 1945-1991, U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009, and Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Topics covered
U.S. Recognition of Israel and the 1948 Middle East War
Overthrowing Mohammed Mossadeq in Iran (1953)
1956 Middle East War
1967 Middle East War
Israel and the Atomic Bomb
Muammar Qadhafi’s 1969 Coup in Libya
1973 Middle East War
1973-1974 OPEC Oil Embargo
The Fall of the Shah of Iran and the Rise of Ayatollah Khomeini (1978-1979)
Iran-Iraq War (September 1980- August 1988)
Lebanon (1982-1984)
The Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait (1990)
The Iraqi WMD Intelligence Assessments (2002-2003)
The Abortive Syrian Nuclear Program (2006-2007)
The Iranian Nuclear Program (1970s-present)
The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism
The U.S.-Israeli Intelligence Relationship
Spying on Israel
Number of documents: 2,740
Number of pages: 19,500
Auxiliary aids:
- Introductory essay
- Glossary of acronyms
- Glossary of organizations
- Glossary of personalities
- Chronology
- Bibliography
Sourcing archives:
- National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, Maryland
- CIA-CREST database
- Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas
- John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts
- Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas
- Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda, California
- Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, Georgia
- Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
- Hoover Institution Archives, Palo Alto, California
- Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
- George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia
- General Douglas MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, Virginia
- National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, England
See also the companion collections: Cold War Intelligence, U.S. Intelligence on Asia, 1945-1991, U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009, and Weapons of Mass Destruction.