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 cooperation 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.

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 the 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 that 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. In addition, Drs. Henry Kissinger and James Schlesinger have approved access to their papers at the Library of Congress. These papers are a key source for the Nixon-Ford subseries of the Foreign Relations series.

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

Sources for Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, E–14, Part 2, Documents on Arms Control and Nonproliferation, 1973–1976

Much of the documentation included in this volume on the arms control policies of the second Nixon administration and the Ford administration is from the Presidential papers and other White House records maintained by the Nixon Presidential Materials Project and the Ford Library. The National Security Council (NSC) Institutional Files (H–Files) for each administration are particularly important. They contain the working files and meeting files of the NSC. The H–Files contain materials related to the National Security Study Memoranda (NSSMs) and National Security Decision Memoranda (NSDMs).

Of the files of the Department of State, the most useful for the purposes of this compilation were the Central Foreign Policy Files.

In addition to the paper files cited below, a growing number of documents are available on the Internet. The Office of the Historian maintains a list of these Internet resources on its website and encourages readers to consult that site on a regular basis.

Unpublished Sources

  • Department of State
    • Central Files. See National Archives and Records Administration below.
    • Lot Files. For lot files already transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland, Record Group 59, see National Archives and Records Administration below.
  • National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
    • Record Group 59, General Records of the Department of State
      • Central Files, 1970–1973
      • DEF 18–6, defense affairs, arms control and disarmament, control measures
      • POL 27–10, military operations, chemical and germ warfare
      • Central Foreign Policy Files, 1973–1976
        • Part of the on-line Access to Archival Databases: Electronic Telegrams, P-Reel Index, P-Reel microfilm
      • Lot Files
      • Policy Planning Council (S/PC), Policy Planning Staff (S/P), Director’s Files (Winston Lord), 1969–77, Lot 77D112
      • Transcripts of Secretary of State Kissinger’s Staff Meetings, 1973–1977, Lot 78D443
      • Records of the Office of the Office of the Counselor, Helmut Sonnenfeldt, Lot 81D286
      • Records Relating to the National Security Council Under Secretaries Committee, Lot 81D309.
    • Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
      • James M. Cannon Files
        • Issues File, 1972–77
      • Glenn R. Schleede Files,
        • Subject Files, 1974–77
      • National Security Adviser
        • Kissinger Reports on USSR, China, and Middle East Discussions
          • USSR Memcons and Reports
        • Memoranda of Conversations
        • NSC Middle East and South Asian Affairs Staff Files
          • Convenience Files
        • NSC Program Analysis Staff Files
          • Convenience Files
        • Presidential Agency Files
          • Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
          • USUN
        • Presidential Correspondence With Foreign Leaders
        • Presidential Country Files for East Asia and the Pacific
          • Korea
        • Presidential Country Files for Middle East and South Asia
          • Egypt
        • Presidential Files of NSC Logged Documents
          • IF/NS File for the President
          • NSC “NS” Originals File
        • Presidential Subject File
      • National Security Council Institutional Files (H–Files)
        • Institutional Files—Meetings
        • Institutional Files—NSSMs
        • Institutional Files—NSDMs
        • Institutional Files—Secretariat
        • Institutional Files—Under Secretaries Committee
      • Presidential Handwriting File
        • Subject File
      • White House Central Files
        • Subject Files
    • Nixon Presidential Materials Project, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland (now at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, California)
      • National Security Council Files
        • Agency Files
        • Kissinger Office Files
          • Country Files
            • Europe—USSR
        • Subject Files
        • VIP Visits
      • National Security Council Institutional Files (H–Files)
        • NSC Meeting Minutes
        • National Security Study Memoranda
        • National Security Decision Memoranda
    • Central Intelligence Agency
      • Executive Registry Subject Files (DCI Area), OP 10
        • Job 79M00467A
      • Office of the Deputy Director of Intelligence Files, OPI 29
        • Job 82MOO587R
      • Office of the Deputy Director of Intelligence Files, OPI 122, NIC
        • Job 79R01012A
    • Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
      • Papers of Henry A. Kissinger
        • Memoranda of Conversations
      • Papers of James Schlesinger
        • Action Memoranda
    • Washington National Records Center, Suitland Maryland
    • RG 330, Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense
      • FRC 330–76–0117
        • Secret Decimal Files of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1973

Published Sources

  • United States. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Arms Control and Disarmament Agreements: Text and History of Negotiations. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1977.
  • ______. Documents on Disarmament, 1974, 1976. Washington: Government Printing Office.
  • United States. Department of State. Bulletin. 1973–1976.
  • United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon, 1973, 1974. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1974–1975.
  • ______. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Gerald R. Ford, 1974, 1975, 1976–1977. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1975, 1977, 1979.