Argentina Declassification Project: Responsive Records
Records Releases
During his March 2016 trip to Argentina, President Obama announced that the U.S. Government would embark on a comprehensive effort to identify additional records related to human rights abuses committed under Argentina’s dictatorship, the "Dirty War," from 1975-1984. For the first time, this search included records from U.S. intelligence, law enforcement, defense departments and agencies.
Material produced by this Argentina Declassification Project was delivered to the Argentinian government and released via the Intelligence Community transparency website, IC on the Record beginning in August 2016. These releases, including the final publication on April 12, 2019, have been collected on Intelligence.gov to make them readily available for public access, research, and study.
August 8, 2016
340 records encompassing 1,057 pages were declassified and publicly released in August 2016. This material was presented by Secretary of State John Kerry to President Mauricio Macri on August 4, 2016, in Buenos Aires. This release includes records from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta, Georgi;, Argentina Country Files; individual White House staff member files, meeting files, presidential correspondence files; and Evening Notes files.
These records illustrate the role human rights issues played in the U.S. bilateral relationship with Argentina. In particular, they provide insights into the Carter administration’s efforts to urge the Argentine dictatorship to abide by the rule of law, release individuals illegally detained, and account for those who had disappeared while in the custody of the state.
Responsive Records:
- Argentina - Carter, Reagan, and Bush VP Part 1
- Argentina - Carter, Reagan, and Bush VP Part 2
- Argentina - Carter, Reagan, and Bush VP Part 3
December 12, 2016
167 records encompassing 550 pages were declassified and publicly released in December 2016. This material was presented by President Obama to President Macri to commemorate the life and work of former U.S. diplomat Patricia Derian, the Assistant Secretary of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs during the Carter administration.
This release includes records from four Presidential Libraries: the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta, Georgia; the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan; the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California; and the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. The release also includes Argentina Country Files, individual White House staff member files, meeting files, Presidential correspondence files, and other National Security Council files.
Notably, the records from the Carter Presidential Library include documents written by Derian, who advocated tirelessly on behalf of the victims of human rights abuses in Argentina. Records from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library cover Vice President Bush’s meetings with Argentine officials and his visit to Argentina to attend the inauguration of President Raúl Alfonsín after democracy was restored. Significantly, the records include responsive portions from 25 President’s Daily Briefs, including the first time PDBs from the Carter and Reagan administrations have been released.
Responsive Records:
- Argentina - Ford PDB
- Argentina - Ford Report
- Argentina - Carter PDBs
- Argentina - Carter Memos
- Argentina - Carter Reports
- Argentina - Reagan PDB
- Argentina - Reagan Memos
- Argentina - Reagan Reports
- Argentina - GHW Bush Memos
- Argentina - GHW Bush Reports
April 27, 2017
932 records encompassing 3,300 pages were declassified and publicly released in August 2017. This material was presented by President Trump to President Macri at the White House in Washington, DC.
This release includes 813 State Department records re-reviewed because they were previously withheld either in their entirety or in part from the first Argentina Declassification Project in 2002. These 2,700 pages consisted of cables to and from its Embassies, newly declassified reports and assessments, as well as internal State Department memoranda. Also included were 119 records selected by Department of State historians for inclusion in the Argentina and Latin American Region chapters of the Foreign Relations of the United States volume on South America, 1977-1981.
Historians assisted in locating material held in several archival repositories, including the National Archives and Records Administration, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Departments of Defense and State, and selected those materials evaluated as the most illustrative in developing and implementing U.S. policies.
Responsive Records:
- Argentina and Latin American Region Chapters of Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, Volume XXIV, South America
- Department of State Virtual Reading Room
April 12, 2019
5,596 records encompassing 43,472 pages were declassified and publicly released in April 2019. This material was presented by the Archivist of the United States, the Honorable David Ferriero, to the Argentine Minister of Justice, the Honorable Germán Carlos Garavano at the National Archives and Records Administration on April 12, 2019, with senior U.S. Government officials in attendance from the Departments of Defense, Justice, State, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the National Security Council.
Coinciding with the official delivery of the records, these materials and the preceding Argentina Declassification Project releases were made available in a single online location at Intelligence.gov, along with substantial additional information documenting the research effort.
The online release underscores a continued commitment by the U.S. Government to make the records accessible to the people of Argentina for years to come.
Responsive Records:
- Argentina - National Archives
- Argentina - Central Intelligence Agency
- Argentina - Department of Defense (Army)
- Argentina - Department of Defense (Defense Intelligence Agency Part 1)
- Argentina - Department of Defense (Defense Intelligence Agency Part 2)
- Argentina - Department of Defense (Defense Intelligence Agency Part 3)
- Argentina - Department of Defense (Joint Staff)
- Argentina - Department of Defense (Navy)
- Argentina - Department of Defense (Office of the Secretary of Defense Part 1)
- Argentina - Department of Defense (Office of the Secretary of Defense Part 2)
- Argentina - Department of Defense (Office of the Secretary of Defense Part 3)
- Argentina - Department of Defense (Office of the Secretary of Defense Part 4)
- Argentina - Department of Defense (United States Southern Command)
- Argentina - Department of Defense (United States Air Force)
- Argentina - Department of Justice
- Argentina - Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Argentina - Department of State
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