New Research Tool

[Steve Thomas]

Those of you who study JFK's assassination in the context of world developments may be interested in a new research tool. From the press blurb:

"The origins of the National Intelligence Council (NIC) can be traced back to

the period after World War II when there was increased interest in providing

substantial research on subjects of national security interest and their

likely outcomes. Officially created in 1979, the NIC reports directly to the

director of the CIA. The NIC performs a number of outreach functions,

including reaching out to non-government experts in academia and the private

sector and providing a focal point for policy-makers interested in the

organization's diverse areas of inquiry. Scholars and the general public

will enjoy browsing through their recent publications area, which features

documents such as "Mapping the Global Future". Visitors who wish to delve

deeper into the ways in which the NIC devises its studies will appreciate

the section dedicated to explaining analytic methodologies. Historians and

political scientists alike will want to take a look at the declassified

National Intelligence Estimates on China from the period 1948 to 1976."

The collection of documents has this to say:

The NIC Collection includes hundreds of declassified National Intelligence Estimates and other publications produced by the National Intelligence Council or its predecessor organizations, the Office of National Estimates and the Office of Reports and Estimates. The NIC database, housed within CIA's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Electronic Reading Room, includes some 1100 documents that have been declassified and made available to the public, either partially or in their entirety, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The earliest of these dates back to 1946; several were published as late as the 1990s. Additional items are being added regularly. Collectively, they constitute an important historical record of Intelligence Community analysis at the highest level; individually, many make for fascinating and instructive reading.

Here's the NIC Collection website:

http://www.cia.gov/nic/NIC_foia_intro.html

I liked this one:

"Would the loss of South Vietnam and Laos Precipitate a Domino Effect in the F?" dated 6/9/64

The conclusion was no. "We do not believe that the loss of South Vietnam and Laos would be followed by the rapid, successive communization of the other states of the Far East. ...With the possible exception of Cambodia, it is likely that no nation in the area would quickly succumb to communism as a result of the fall of Laos and South Vietnam. Furthermore, a continuation of the spread of communism in the area would not be ineorable..."

So much for what we were told.

Steve Thomas

[Mike Tribe]

This is a fantastically useful resource for anyone teaching the Cold War to A Level or IB classes. Perhaps you should re-post it in the History: Resources section, since not all teachers check all the JFK threads every day...

[Shanet Clark]

Absolutely, this type of material is a wonderful primary document for real understanding.

A number of declassified files are now on CD ROM I picked up a copy of the OPERATION INLET files. Heavily sanitized, these were FBI news information "white papers" on domestic intelligence that were sent into the NIXON white house by J EDGAR HOOVER. They play to Nixon and Hoover's prejudices and insecurities and report on the Yippies, the Black Panthers and the Quakers efforts to end the war....INLET shows this kind of primary news brief... My files run to about 500 pages (half are substantive) and cost about $10