On Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 12:03 PM National Security Archive <[email protected]> wrote:
> Archive Publishes “War Scare” Documents Deleted from State Department > History.Newly Declassified Documents Focus on Soviet Military’s Fear of > U.S. First Strike During > Exercise. > > > > > > > The Censored History of Able Archer 83 > > <https://default.salsalabs.org/T6c30b562-e3ad-4cc3-addc-859faad782e8/12238b38-d371-4bc9-b2b2-ab5a3bdb144f> > Archive Publishes “War Scare” Documents Deleted from State Department > History Newly Declassified Documents Focus on Soviet Military’s Fear of > U.S. First Strike During Exercise > > *Washington, D.C., November 14, 2025* - The State Department quietly > deleted important archival records from an official history detailing how a > 1983 NATO war game could have led to a catastrophic nuclear exchange, > according to new reporting from *The* *Washington Post*. This is the > first known instance in which the State Department has removed previously > declassified and published documents from one of its *Foreign Relations > of the United States* (FRUS) volumes, according to the report. > > Today, the Archive is publishing copies of the records that were censored > by the State Department, along with a selection of the most revealing war > scare records. Among them are records revealing that the Soviet military > leadership genuinely feared that they were vulnerable to a preemptive > nuclear strike from the West during the war scare. > > The State Department republished the FRUS volume without the records after > the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2024 upheld a CIA decision to deny a 2021 > Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the National Security > Archive seeking the declassification of an important retrospective analysis > of Able Archer 83 written by U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Leonard Perroots, who > warned that the exercise could have led to “a potentially disastrous > situation.” > > Asked why 15 pages on Able Archer had been removed from the history > without explanation, the State Department told the *Post* that “[t]he > Department was not required to provide public notice.” > > National Security Archive director Tom Blanton said that the unprecedented > deletion of declassified historical records from the State Department > volume on the war scare echoed similar efforts in the Soviet Union where, > as author David Remnick writes, the “censors went through the libraries > with razor blades and slashed from the bound copies of Novy Mir.” > > “Today, in America,” Blanton said, “the censors just have to press delete.” > https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/able-archer-83/2025-11-14/censored-history-able-archer-83?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=0e8955a5-e798-4e2c-bcfb-6f39bd142a9b READ THE DOCUMENTS THAT THE STATE DEPARTMENT CENSORED > <https://default.salsalabs.org/Tdf8cd86a-883a-48b5-9c4b-be85514a262f/12238b38-d371-4bc9-b2b2-ab5a3bdb144f> > > > > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39250): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39250 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116298839/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
