New Records Released – 2022 Third Quarter Release List

During July 2022, the National Declassification Center (NDC) released a listing of 321 declassification projects that consists of over seven million pages which were completed between January 2020 and June 2022. This is the first release of textual records from the NDC since the COVID Pandemic began. These records are now available for researcher requests. … Continue reading New Records Released – 2022 Third Quarter Release List

Hidden in Plain Sight

As the NDC systematically reviews and releases the oldest withheld documents from legacy declassification projects, we periodically post entries about interesting new releases as part of our effort "to make access happen" (please see the July 5, 2018 NDC Blog post "Note Pour L'Admiral Stark" for more details).  In this case, Archives Specialist Jennifer Halpern … Continue reading Hidden in Plain Sight

The Laser Target Recognition System (LTRS): A Lesson in Bleeding Edge Technology

The War in Southeast Asia  was many things to many people.  To some in the Defense Department under Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, the war appeared to be a technological challenge that American know-how was meant to conquer.  To find an enemy who made the most of the cloak of darkness for movement and … Continue reading The Laser Target Recognition System (LTRS): A Lesson in Bleeding Edge Technology

Navy Nuclear Weapons Safety–A Story in Posters

Military leaders by default are the safety managers of their units, although one or more individuals may be formally titled "Safety Officer" as recognition of a specific responsibility within the military organization.  The Safety Officer is an unheralded position wherein one may get recognition (and not the best kind) only when something goes wrong.  So … Continue reading Navy Nuclear Weapons Safety–A Story in Posters

The Weapons Systems Evaluation Group

Those who work in government and in the private sector supporting government are very familiar with the term "think tank", a slang expression dating from World War II that denoted an organization filled with "idea men" that sat around desks coming up with better and greater ways for government to operate.  During the World War … Continue reading The Weapons Systems Evaluation Group

Hollywood, Model Planes, and Atomic Bombs: Office of Naval Research Support for Vertical Envelopment

Lost amid a large 8,000 box series from the long disestablished Bureau of Aeronautics (Record Group 72 in National Archives-speak) in a classified stack at the National Archives in College Park lies a 500-page document whose ominous mushroom cloud cover artwork supported its Confidential classification marking. The light blue/green cover simply bore the words “Assault” … Continue reading Hollywood, Model Planes, and Atomic Bombs: Office of Naval Research Support for Vertical Envelopment