Office of the Historian

Sources

Sources for the Foreign Relations Series

The 1991 Foreign Relations statute requires that the published record in the Foreign Relations series include all records needed to provide comprehensive documentation on major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant U.S. diplomatic activity. It further requires that government agencies, departments, and other entities of the U.S. Government engaged in foreign policy formulation, execution, or support cooperate with the Department of State Historian by providing full and complete access to records pertinent to foreign policy decisions and actions and by providing copies of selected records. Most of the sources consulted in the preparation of this volume have been declassified and are available for review at the National Archives and Records Administration.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series have complete access to all the retired records and papers of the Department of State: the central files of the Department; the special decentralized files (“lot files”) of the Department at the bureau, office, and division levels; the files of the Department’s Executive Secretariat, which contain the records of international conferences and high-level official visits, correspondence with foreign leaders by the President and Secretary of State, and memoranda of conversations between the President and Secretary of State and foreign officials; and the files of overseas diplomatic posts. All the Department’s indexed central files through July 1973 have been permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland (Archives II). Many of the Department’s decentralized office files covering the 1969–1976 period, which the National Archives deems worthy of permanent retention, have been transferred or are in the process of being transferred from the Department’s custody to Archives II.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series also have full access to the papers of Presidents Nixon and Ford as well as other White House foreign policy records. Presidential papers maintained and preserved at the Presidential libraries include some of the most significant foreign affairs-related documentation from the Department of State and other Federal agencies including the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dr. Henry Kissinger has approved access to his papers at the Library of Congress. These papers are a key source for the Nixon-Ford subseries of the Foreign Relations series.

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Research for this volume was completed through special access to restricted documents at the Nixon Presidential Materials Project, the Ford Presidential Library, the Library of Congress, and other agencies. While all the material printed in this volume has been declassified, some of it is extracted from still classified documents. In the time since the research for this volume was completed, the Nixon Presidential Materials have been transferred to the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. The Nixon Presidential Library staff and Ford Library staff are processing and declassifying many of the documents used in this volume, but they may not be available in their entirety at the time of publication.

Sources for Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Volume E–9, Part 1

The presidential papers of the Nixon and Ford administrations are the best source of high-level decision making documentation for U.S. relations with North Africa from 1973 until 1976. At the Nixon Library, several collections from the National Security Council Files are relevant to research on U.S.-North Africa relations. The Country Files for Africa provide the NSC staff’s perspective on relations with the Maghreb. The Institutional Files (H-Files) contain records on high-level meetings, requests for studies, and presidential decisions. High-level correspondence between President Nixon and foreign heads of state are contained in the Presidential Correspondence files.

Material at the Ford Library is organized into categories similar to those at the Nixon Library. The National Security Adviser file contains a number of useful collections for understanding U.S.-North Africa relations: Presidential Country Files, Memoranda of Conversation, National Security Council Staff for the Middle East and South Asia, Trip Briefing books, and the Presidential Agency File. The President’s Daily Diary is an invaluable resource for following the President’s work schedule. The Ford Library has separate NSC Institutional (H-Files), which contain minutes and related documents for NSC and Senior Review Group meetings. Also found in this collection are the Policy Paper files containing National Security Study Memoranda (NSSMS), National Security Decision Memoranda (NSDMs), and related documents.

At the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland, the Department of State Central Files, 1970–1973, contains useful material on the countries of North Africa. Focused largely on cable traffic to and from posts, they contain analysis of events in country that have a bearing on U.S. policy. This is especially true for the collections on Libya.

The Kissinger Papers at the Library of Congress contain a significant amount of duplicate material found in other repositories. However, the Geopolitical File contains documents not found elsewhere, and the Memoranda of Conversations File is remarkably comprehensive in scope. At the Department of Defense, the Official [Page XIII] Records of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the files of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs contain useful documents on U.S. relations with the North Africa. The records of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Intelligence Files at the National Security Council contain valuable documentation for this volume.

Unpublished Sources

  • National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
    • RG 59, Records of the Department of State
    • Central Files, 1970–1973
      • POL Libya: political affairs and relations, Libya
      • POL 23–10 Libya
  • Nixon Presidential Materials Project
    • NSC Files
      • Presidential Correspondence
      • Country Files for Africa
      • Institutional (H) Files
  • Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
    • National Security Adviser Files
      • Presidential Country Files for Africa, Europe and Canada
      • Memoranda of Conversation
      • National Security Council Staff for the Middle East and South Asia
      • NSSM & NSDM
      • National Security Council Institutional Files
      • Presidential Agency File
      • National Security Council Operations Staff
      • Trip Briefing Books for HAK
  • Central Intelligence Agency, Virginia
    • Office of the Director of Central Intelligence
      • Job 80M01066A
      • Job 80M01048A
    • Directorate of Intelligence Files
      • Job 79B01737A
    • National Intelligence Council Files
      • Job 79R01099A
  • Library of Congress, Washington, DC
    • Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers
      • Geopolitical File
      • Memoranda of Conversations
      • Department of State Memoranda
      • National Security Council, National Security Memoranda
      • National Security Council, Committees and Panels
  • National Security Council
    • Nixon Administration Intelligence Files
  • Washington National Records Center, Suitland, Maryland
    • OASD/ISA Files: FRC 330–77–0054
      • Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Subject Decimal Files, Secret, 1974
    • OASD/ISA Files: FRC 330–78–0038
      • Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Subject Decimal Files, Secret, 1974–1975
    • OSD Files: FRC 330–78–0002
      • Official Records of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, Top Secret, 1973
    • OSD Files: FRC 330–78–0011
      • Official Records of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, Secret, 1974
    • OASD/ISA Files: FRC 330–80–0024
      • Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Foreign Military Rights Affairs, 1969–1978
    • OASD/ISA Files: FRC 330–80–0025
      • Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Africa Related Files, 1970–1978