Research Guides: Global &amp; National Security Policy Institute: Research Guide: Government Information

Congressional Government Documents

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Collection of congressional documents, regulations, laws, legislative histories. Coverage: 1789-present.

Government/Military Reports & Analysis

Global Trends
Published every 4 years by the US National Intelligence Council (NIC). Assesses the key trends and uncertainties that will shape the strategic environment for the US during the next two decades.
Congressional Budget Office
Provides nonpartisan budget and economic information to Congress to support the budget process. Each year, the agency releases reports and cost estimates for proposed legislation, without issuing any policy recommendations. It has the reputation of a trusted, in-house quasi-think tank for the Congress.
CRS Reports (Congressional Research Service)
Provides timely, objective, and authoritative research and analysis to committees and members of both the House and Senate, regardless of political party affiliation. Reports range in length from several pages to more than one-hundred pages and cover the full breadth of topics of interest to Congress.
Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)
A resource for Department of Defense and other government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business research.
National Intelligence Council (NIC)/Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)
The center for midterm and long-term strategic thinking within the United States Intelligence Community (IC). One of the NIC's most important analytical projects is a Global Trends report (linked above) produced for the incoming US president.
Center for the Study of Intelligence
CIA sponsored repository of unclassified intelligence articles, publications, and scholarship. Includes the journal, Studies in Intelligence, as well as open source books and reports.
U.S. Army War College Publications
Journals and books published by the U.S. Army War College Press.
U.S. Naval War College Publications
U.S. Naval War College produces a variety of news reports, research publications, books, and journals, including the Naval War College Review.
Air University Press Publications
Books and journals from the academic publisher of the U.S. Air Force.
Marine Corps University Press
Books and journals published by the U.S. Marine Corps press on national security and international relations topics.
National Defense University Press
Books and journals published by the U.S. National Defense University.

Declassified Government Documents

As classified documents are released to the public, they may appear in any of several databases or web sites. No single site or database provides complete coverage, so the diligent researcher will consult them all.

Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window
Access to significant declassified primary source U.S. government documents central to U.S. history, policy, politics, and international relations since 1945. Comprised of over 40 topic based collections, each contains a diverse range of policy documents including presidential directives, memos, diplomatic dispatches, meeting notes, independent reports, briefing papers, White House communications, email, confidential letters, and other secret material. 1945-present

National Security Archive (hosted at George Washington University) [NOTE: This is the website of the organization that created the data for the tool listed above. Use the link to Digital National Security Archive to search the complete set of digitized documents.] This site includes some of the actual declassified documents as well as other information. To search the documents use the DOCUMENTS tab; use the POSTINGS tab to browse Briefing Books and Sourcebooks which gather related documents together. Also visit their Blog, Unredacted.]

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS)

"The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major US foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. The series, which is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian, began in 1861 and now comprises more than 350 individual volumes. The volumes published over the last two decades increasingly contain declassified records from all the foreign affairs agencies." [from the State Dept. website]

There are several online versions of parts or all of this series:

Hein Online [1861-1988 -- most comprehensive coverage]
U.S. Department of State: Office of the Historian [recent volumes, 1945-1988 and links to some of the older volumes below]
U of Wisconsin Digital Collections: FRUS [older volumes - 1861-1958/60]

FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) Reading Rooms

FOIA amendments signed into law in 1994 added a requirement that agencies must establish an Electronic FOIA (EFOIA) Reading Room. The links below take you to FOIA Reading Rooms for several related government agencies.

Government Agency Websites

US & International Goverment Documents

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Access to law journals and other legal periodicals, federal publications (e.g. Federal Register), statutes, case law, treaties, historical legal documents, Canada and UK laws, and other international legal documents. Provided by the UNM Law School Library.