The National Security Archive
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| Abbreviation | The Archive |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1985, U.S. |
| Type | 501(c)(3) non-profit organization |
| Legal status | Foundation |
| Purpose | Freedom of Information, Journalism, Transparency, Open Government, Research |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Website | The National Security Archive |
The National Security Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located on the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1985 to check rising government secrecy, the National Security Archive is an investigative journalism center, open government advocate, international affairs research institute, and is the largest repository of declassified U.S. documents outside of the federal government. The National Security Archive has spurred the declassification of more than 10 million pages of government documents by being the leading non-profit user of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), filing a total of more than 50,000 FOIA and declassification requests in its nearly 30-year history.
Journalists and historians founded the National Security Archive in 1985 to enrich research and public debate about national security policy. The National Security Archive continues to challenge national security secrecy by advocating for open government, utilizing the FOIA to compel the release of previously secret government documents, and analyzing and publishing its collections for the public.
As a prolific FOIA requester, the National Security Archive has pried loose a host of seminal government documents, including: the most FOIA’d document at the U.S. National Archives – a December 21, 1970 picture of President Richard Nixon’s meeting with Elvis Presley; the CIA’s “Family Jewels” list that documents decades of the agency’s illegal activities; the National Security Agency’s (NSA) description of its watch list of 1,600 Americans that included notable Americans such as civil rights leader Martin Luther King, boxer Muhammad Ali, and politicians Frank Church and Howard Baker; the first official CIA confirmation of Area 51; U.S. plans for a “full nuclear response” in the event the President was ever attacked or disappeared; FBI transcripts of 25 interviews with Saddam Hussein after his capture by U.S. troops in December 2003; the Osama bin Laden File, and the most comprehensive document collections available on the Cold War, including the nuclear flashpoints occurring during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the 1983 “Able Archer” War Scare.
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