Stansfield Turner and the 112 Soviet Submarines Hunting the Atlantic
For 38 years, the assessment of how the Soviet Union could starve NATO's armies in Europe remained hidden, including the critical gaps in US shipping data.
By Vera Kessler ·
NATO
6,000 Ships and the 1979 Atlantic Resupply Gap
A memorandum kept secret for 38 years exposes a bitter dispute over how many merchant vessels the Soviet Navy could sink—and how many the US actually had.
By Vera Kessler ·
The 1950 Deadline and the Russian Atomic Program
A 1949 meeting of Britain's top military chiefs identified a specific window for a Soviet strike on Scandinavia, while the head of intelligence was quietly purged from his post.
By Roy Castellano ·
NATO's 5,800-Ship Gamble and the Liberian Shadow Fleet
For decades, the plan to save Europe rested on merchant ships whose owners were hidden for tax reasons, a vulnerability kept secret until 2017.
By Roy Castellano ·
Boris Yeltsin and the October 1993 Price of US Support
A diplomatic cable kept secret for years shows the US preparing to validate a Russian leader who had just turned tanks on his own parliament to secure his grip on power
By Vera Kessler ·
Zhu Lilan and the June 21 Letter to Thaw a Frozen Relationship
Kept under a withheld classification, a 1999 communication sought to bridge a divide opened by NATO's bombing of a Chinese embassy and the theft of nuclear secrets
By Harlan Pryce ·
Lynn Davis and the 2005 Promise to Russia
The blueprint for expanding NATO was built on a gamble that Boris Yeltsin's public pivot in Warsaw was a permanent shift, a bet that left Eastern Europe caught in a strategic void.
By Roy Castellano ·
Mr. Hayter and the 1949 Soviet Atomic Breach
A career ended and a nuclear surprise occurred in 1949, leaving behind a secret 'weapon system' that the UK's Ministry of Defence kept hidden from public view.
By Roy Castellano ·
John Pender and the Fictitious Custody of 1962 NATO Nukes
An August 1962 report, kept secret for decades in an excised copy, admits U.S. nuclear warheads in Turkey and Italy were effectively under allied control despite official lies to the Soviets.
By Eleanor Voss ·
Bill Clinton and the 1997 Calculation to Burn Russian Democracy
Russian reformers were treated as an acceptable loss in a strategic gamble documented in a 1997 draft letter that prioritized alliance growth over the stability of Moscow's democratic wing.
By Roy Castellano ·
Three Dead Reporters and the CIA's "Factual Account" for Beijing
Three Chinese journalists died when NATO bombs hit their embassy in Belgrade; a 1999 cable shows the precise diplomatic math used to keep Beijing from breaking with Washington.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Sergei Akhromeyev and the 1990 Denial of Able Archer
A former Soviet Marshal's memories of the 1983 nuclear scare remained hidden for decades, portraying American intentions as a drive for world supremacy.
By Eleanor Voss ·
Chernomyrdin and the 1999 Price of a Russian Retreat
A diplomatic victory in Moscow was kept hidden for years to protect the Russian leadership from its own military, only for the army to seize an airport in defiance of the deal.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Strobe Talbott Marks Red Line Against Russian Push to Fragment NATO
A 1998 diplomatic letter shows the U.S. attempting to block Russian efforts to carve out special rules for new NATO members, a move that threatened to fracture the alliance's collective security.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Kennedy’s Berlin Planners Had No Ready Answer on Mobilization
Kept secret for decades, a 1962 record describes a President asking for a mobilization schedule for Berlin only to find his generals had no ready answer.
By Vera Kessler ·
Boris Yeltsin denied illegal biological weapons during 1994 Clinton summit
Russia’s first president shook his head at claims of secret bio-warfare while the U.S. weighed the cost of Nunn-Lugar certification in a 1994 meeting.
By Eleanor Voss ·