National Security Archive Fund, Inc.
Project Title
As a final grant for a study on nuclear targeting, civilian casualties, and the laws of war
Date
Dec. 11, 2025
Duration
24 months
Description
Despite rising concerns about nuclear risk, core aspects of U.S. nuclear posture remain shielded from the public, including policies on launch authority, weapons deployments, targeting, and the humanitarian effects of nuclear use. The National Security Archive Fund will continue its work to shed light on the evolution of U.S. nuclear policy and its implications for global security. The project will use Freedom of Information Act requests, oral histories, and archival research to uncover primary source documents related to nuclear targeting, presidential launch authority, weapons effects, accident protocols, and other dimensions of U.S. nuclear posture. Newly declassified materials will be published and analyzed on the Archive’s Nuclear Vault platform, providing scholars, journalists, and the public with access to historically grounded resources that inform debates about the consequences of U.S. nuclear policy.
Website
Project Title
For the National Security Archive
Date
Sep. 11, 2025
Duration
36 months
Description
As a counterweight to the rise of national security secrecy within the U.S. government, journalists and scholars in the mid-1980s founded the National Security Archive (the Archive). The Archive is an investigative journalism center that works to declassify U.S. government secrets, a research institute on international affairs, a library, and a digital repository. Millions of its historic records inform and enrich scholarship on foreign policy and nuclear weapons issues in the hope that policymakers and the public can learn from the past. In this next phase, it will continue its mission to expand permanent online access to declassified historical documents.
Website
Project Title
For a study on nuclear targeting, civilian casualties, and the laws of war
Date
Mar. 07, 2024
Duration
24 months
Description
U.S. nuclear policy states that nuclear targeting minimizes civilian casualties and abides by the laws of armed conflict. But U.S. analytical and expert communities have questioned the accuracy of these claims.With renewed funding, the National Security Archive (NSA) will continue a project to shed light on U.S. nuclear targeting policies and their potential consequences. NSA will use Freedom of Information Act requests and oral histories with former policy officials, practitioners, and experts to create collections of primary sources on this issue.The collected materials will be analyzed by NSA staff and made available to others so as to provide better understanding of U.S. nuclear targeting policies, their consequences for civilians, and the degree to which such policies conform to international norms about armed conflict.
Website
Project Title
For archival programs on U.S.-Russia relations, nuclear security, and cooperative threat reduction
Date
Dec. 14, 2023
Duration
24 months
Description
The National Security Archive (the Archive) is an independent non-governmental research institute and library with the largest repository of declassified U.S. documents outside the federal government. Itsdocuments inform and enrich the latest scholarship on foreign policy and nuclear security.As political tensions continue to drive public narratives, the Archive will advance its mission to advocate for more open government to bolster mutual security;highlight the trends inU.S.-Russia relations;call attention to the persisting dangers of nuclear weapons;and inform key military, scholarly, policy, and media audiences in the United States and abroad.
Website
Project Title
For a study on nuclear targeting, civilian casualties, and the laws of war
Date
Sep. 15, 2022
Duration
18 months
Description
The question of whether U.S. nuclear targeting abides by the laws of armed conflict has been a persistent issue and one made more pressing by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the heightened global awareness of the risks of nuclear weapons use.The National Security Archive will shed light on this topic by providing already declassified materials and analysis to the academic and policy communities, as well as requesting declassification of additional relevant documents, creating an online briefing book of declassified documents, and reviewing the international humanitarian law literature related to nuclear weapons in historical and contemporary contexts.The project will culminate in a convening of academics and former officials to share the findings and will result in a publishable transcript.
Website
Project Title
For archival programs on U.S.- Russia relations, nuclear security, and cooperative threat reduction
Date
Dec. 02, 2021
Duration
24 months
Description
National security secrecy impedes the broader policy debate and hinders individual scholarship. The National Security Archive (the Archive) is an independent non-governmental research institute and library with the largest repository of declassified U.S. documents outside the federal government. As political tensions continue to drive public narratives, the Archive will advance its mission to advocate for more open government to bolster mutual security, highlight the importance of U.S.-Russia relations, call attention to the persisting dangers of nuclear weapons, and inform key military, scholarly, policy, and media audiences in the United States and abroad.
Website
Project Title
For archival programs on U.S.- Russia relations, nuclear security, and cooperative threat reduction
Date
Dec. 05, 2019
Duration
24 months
Description
The National Security Archive (the Archive) is an investigative journalism center and international affairs research institute with the largest repository of declassified U.S. documents outside the federal government. It was established in 1985 to check rising government secrecy. As political tensions continue to drive new narratives, the Archive advances its mission to advocate for more open government. Its programs work to increase understanding and cooperation between Russia and the United States by documenting the history of U.S.-Soviet/Russian relations, creating connections between scholars and practitioners, and engaging the next generation of students in joint learning and research. With Corporation support, the Archive will continue its work relevant to mutual security, nuclear weapons, and U.S.-Russian relations.
Website
Project Title
For archival programs on U.S.- Russia relations, nuclear security and cooperative threat reduction
Date
Dec. 07, 2017
Duration
24 months
Description
Evidence-based public debates are core principles of open societies. The National Security Archive (the Archive) has spent close to thirty years working for more open government at home and abroad, using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to spur release of previously unavailable U.S. government documentation. It also analyzes and curates collections for the public. Now, the Archive will apply its approach to create permanent, universally accessible historical records regarding U.S relations with Russia on nuclear nonproliferation, including the Cooperative Threat Reduction (known as the Nunn-Lugar Program), and other policy decisions. It also will also organize a major networking exercise with alums of the Archive’s multi-year Summer School program.
Website
Project Title
For archival programs on nuclear security and cooperative threat reductions
Date
Dec. 10, 2015
Duration
24 months
Description
Since its establishment in 1985 to check rising government secrecy, the National Security Archive (the Archive) has challenged national security privacy by advocating for open government, utilizing the Freedom of Information Act to compel the release of previously secret documents. With continued support from the Corporation, the Archive will address the documentation deficit and lessons-learned challenge through research focused on the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction initiative. In partnership with former Senator Sam Nunn and his Nuclear Threat Initiative organization and with the help of partner institutions in Russia and Kazakhstan, the Archive will build on its existing body of research over the next two years to acquire currently inaccessible documentation and accumulate lessons-learned through an innovative oral history program.
Website
Project Title
For programs on nuclear security and cooperative threat reduction
Date
Dec. 05, 2013
Duration
24 months
Website
Project Title
For archival programs on Nuclear Security and U.S.- Russia Engagement
Date
Dec. 15, 2011
Duration
24 months
Website
Project Title
Toward support of the Eurasia Initiative
Date
Mar. 04, 2010
Duration
20 months
Website
Project Title
For support of the Eurasia Initiative
Date
Mar. 06, 2008
Duration
24 months
Website
Project Title
Toward an international project to expand public access to archival information on nuclear proliferation
Date
Dec. 04, 2008
Duration
36 months
Website
Project Title
Toward support for the Russia and Former Soviet Union Initiative
Date
Mar. 02, 2006
Duration
24 months
Website
Project Title
Toward support for the Russia and Former Soviet Union Initiative
Date
Apr. 08, 2004
Duration
24 months