Security Archives Research Articles

Specters of Revolution: Peasant Guerrillas in the Cold War Mexican Countryside, by Alexander Aviña

In the 1960s and ’70s much of Latin America languished under military-authoritarian regimes which brutally repressed political opponents, real and imagined, often justifying these guerras sucias (‘dirty wars’) in the name of peace, order, Christianity and anti-Communism. Mexico, in contrast, remained a civilian polity, ruled by a dominant party, the PRI, which claimed the patriotic and progressive mantle of the Mexican Revolution of 1910; indeed, Mexico became a haven for Argentine and Chilean political refugees, as it had for Spanish Republicans a generation earlier. The PRI prided itself on its revolutionary legitimacy and provision of politico-economic stability; so, many wrongly concluded, repression was no more than a sporadic aberration (the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre being the biggest aberrant example). Recent research, helped by the opening of sensitive security archives after 2000, has shown that repression was more severe and systematic than had previously been thought (if more discreet than in South America: Tlatelolco, a massacre in downtown Mexico City, was, in that sense, a real exception).

Great powers and UN force generation: a case study of UNAMID

ABSTRACTHow are UN peacekeepers recruited? While we know a lot about UN member states’ general predispositions to participate in UN peacekeeping operations, we know very little about the actual UN force generation process. What role do the UN and its powerful member states play in this process? How do they interact to recruit UN forces? This article seeks answers to these questions by means of an in-depth case study of the force generation process for the UN–AU operation to Darfur (UNAMID). The case study relies on over 50 interviews with high-level decision-makers as well as newly declassified documents from the National Security Archive in Washington, DC. Overall the case study depicts a tantalizing division of labour between the technical expertise of the United Nations and the political power of key UN member states. It appears that UN peacekeeping contributions sometimes require the provision of financial and/or other incentives that go beyond regular UN reimbursements. As a result, powerful UN member states need to step in. However, UN officials play an important brokerage role in this process informing interested UN member states which countries would be suitable for bilateral démarches and why.

Secretive Spies or Ordinary Clerks? Polish Communist Intelligence Services in Brussels, 1975–89

The declassification of communist state security archives allows for a comparison between the common imagination of intelligence during the Cold War and historical reality. This case study of the Polish secret services in Belgium between 1975 and 1989 shows that some views are accurate. Embassies were the headquarters of espionage activity and all residents — i.e. the coordinators of the ‘Belgian’ cell — and intelligence officers worked under diplomatic cover. Many other images, however, appear to be far from the truth. The Polish state security was not omnipresent and efficient. It failed to obtain relevant information, gathered everything that randomly fell into its hands, and mainly based its analyses on published sources. Nevertheless, its self-assessments of its activities and results are very positive. They demonstrate that this weakness was the norm rather than the exception.

Konstruksi profesionalisme aparat: Dukungan pimpinan dan perbaikan kesejahteraan

Capacity-building employees has become a global policy instrument in the New Public Management perspective to create the organization's effectiveness and efficiency in the bureaucracy. The release of the State Civil Administrative Law has strengthened efforts to establish the capacity of the officials who are competent and professional. This research uses purposive sampling technique. Respondent were choosen from Food Security Office and Archive and Library Office in 4 areas, namely Bojonegoro, Kapas, Balen, and Dander. In line with the results of the study, it appears that the construction capabilities of the apparatus has a high chance to realize the vision and mission of the new district. In addition, capacitybuilding apparatus in an area determined by the area of leadership role models, the regent than on education leadership. Professionalism apparatus constructed as a positive energy that is not only related to the knowledge and expertise as well as the achievement of an individual's performance, but is highly dependent on the creation of a conducive environment for professionalism itself, such as the feasibility of welfare officials, the clarity of sanctions and rewards as well as encouragement and ethos work.

Reagan at Reykjavik: Forty-Eight Hours That Ended the Cold War

<i>Reagan at Reykjavik: Forty-Eight Hours That Ended the Cold War</i>

Introduction: Global Order, Cooperation between the Superpowers, and Alliance Politics in the Making of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime

Introduction: Global Order, Cooperation between the Superpowers, and Alliance Politics in the Making of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime

The BlackBerry Project: The Hidden World of Adolescents' Text Messaging and Relations With Internalizing Symptoms.

In this naturalistic study of adolescents' text messaging, participants (N = 172, 81 girls, age 14) were given BlackBerry devices configured to save their text messages to a secure archive for coding. Two, 2-day transcripts collected four months apart within the same academic year were microcoded for content. Results showed that most text message utterances were positive or neutral, and that adolescents sent text messages primarily to peers and to romantic partners. Only a few sex differences emerged. Frequency of text messages containing negative talk positively predicted overall internalizing symptoms and anxious depression. Text messaging about sex was positively associated with overall internalizing and somatic complaints for girls, but not for boys.

Innovative Use of Transportation Enhancement Funds to Develop a Historical Archive and Digital Database

In 2004, concerned employees of the Iowa Department of Transportation, with management approval, formed a committee that sought to identify, preserve, and provide access to the historic photo and document collections at the agency. Utilizing the U.S. Federal Highway Administration's Transportation Enhancement Program (TEP), the committee applied for and received a grant of $50,000. A plan of action was subsequently developed, which included a mission statement and a vision for the future. In 2005, a Request for a Proposal (RFP) to hire an archival consultant was developed and posted. In February of the following year, a consultant was hired. After a site visit, the consultant prepared a report on preliminary findings and a possible plan of action; Phase I of the TEP grant had been completed. During Phase II, amendments to the budget and plan of action were secured; a policy and procedures manual was developed; interns were hired; a climate-controlled, secure archive room was established; and digital image databases were created, thereby fulfilling the implementation requirements of the grant. This paper documents the steps involved in this process and demonstrates how Transportation Enhancement Funds were used to develop a historical archive and digital database.

The Opening of the State Security Archives of Central and Eastern Europe

In laws passed since 19911 the state security archives of the former Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe have been opened. This paper examines why they have been opened and what the results have been (and are likely in future to be). It surveys the legislation in place throughout the former Soviet Bloc but focuses in particular on the opening of the archives in Germany and Romania. The reason for this is that the process is far advanced in Germany and much less advanced in Romania. The contrast between the two displays the issues involved very well. The paper argues that the opening of the archives has been an important tool of de-communization. It has been fullest in Germany because of the strength and self-confidence of the German legal system and because of the weakness of the Communists’ political position. It has been partial in Romania because the legal system lacks authority, independence and self-confidence and the Communists have remained strong.

The Domestic Politics of Protecting Human Rights in Counter-Terrorism

Three countries in Eastern Europe, Poland, Lithuania, and Romania, hosted secret detention sites for the benefit of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA’s) interrogation program from about 2002 to 2006. All three countries initially denied with indignation these allegations. In the past five years, Poland moved toward prosecution as a result of a Supreme Court decision ordering declassification of documents, which resulted since 2008 in an ongoing prosecutorial investigation likely to indict the former Interior Minister and possibly others. While Lithuania’s parliament identified plans for a site, it claimed to not know whether it was used, and prosecution was aborted. Romania’s secret prison became the host not only to second-tier, high-value detainees of the CIA, but after Poland shut down its site, to the most dangerous detainees, who were tortured in the basement of the National Security Archives Building in Bucharest. Romania’s three governmental branches continue to deny that it ever collaborated with the CIA or that such a site even existed. This essay analyzes this variation in the domestic responses of these three countries, as well as other CIA collaborations with Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia. It argues that international pressure was a necessary condition for domestic political processes, especially in the legislative and judicial branches supervising executive actions. However, the strength of the latter two branches, along with the type of political class and civil society, will explain the strongest reform process in Poland, the medium-range response in Lithuania, and the nonresponse of denial by Romania.

Terrorism and government: Between history and criminology

Incontestably the decade since 9/11 has been the age of terrorism. Or has it? In this lecture we consider terrorism as an object of government and of academic research. In arguing that law and criminology have been the pre-eminent disciplines attending to governmental responses to terrorism we note that their interventions have been significant in both their critical stance and in their impact in shaping discourse about the tactics and limits of counter-terrorism, particularly legislation and its uses. But what understanding of the broader role of government in responding to terrorism emerges from such a literature? And what histories are available to inform such an understanding? Existing historical accounts of Australian security and intelligence as a response to political violence and terrorism are for the most part dominated by Cold War politics and ideology, especially through their preoccupation with the politics of intelligence organisations. Increasing availability of security archives, together with a more international view of the context of Australian counter-terrorism histories, provide a sounder base for assessing the emergence of terrorism as an object of government attention since the 1970s.

Diplomacy of Estrangement: The Dealings of the United States with Pakistan before 9/11

Diplomatic correspondence between Washington and the American Embassy in Islamabad published by the National Security Archive shows that during the last 35 years of the twentieth century American diplomacy toward Pakistan faced a mutually de-escalating relationship. Pakistan wanted American economic and military assistance as well as support in its conflicts with India. The United States was ready to aid Pakistan, but only so far as Islamabad respected American demands. These focused on containing Soviet influence in the region and, more recently, fighting al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The United States also asked Pakistan to refrain from manufacturing nuclear weapons. To enforce this policy, successive American administrations showered Pakistan with sanctions. These sanctions were lifted again and again, because they undercut American diplomatic influence with the Pakistani government. Washington did not intend to support Pakistan in its conflicts with India. Pakistan let down the United States by not using its leverage over the Taliban to capture Osama Bin Laden. Mistrust resulting from this roller coaster relationship should have warned American diplomats not to take Pakistan's support in the war in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda and the Taliban for granted.

Tribute to Nirbhaya (Fearless)

We are happy to launch the first issue of the Journal Space and Culture, India. This first issue is a tribute to Nirbhaya (Fearless), who was brutally gang-raped and left in a ‘vegetative state’ to die, who subsequently succumbed to her injuries on December 29, 2012. Alongside, we also pay our last respect to Chief Justice Jagdish Charan Verma (January 18, 1933 – April 22, 2013), who headed the government-appointed panel, Justice Verma Committee that came out with the recommendations on enhancing women’s safety and security.The journal is very grateful to all the members of the editorial board for their strong commitment and support. We also thank the contributors of the first issue. We are committed to encourage young scholars and researchers to submit their theoretically informed original research, commentaries and reviews on any social issues of India and make an impact to the society.We understand that your research is very important to you - we guarantee global distribution accessible universally on-line and without any charge. We are in the process of obtaining International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) from ISSN UK centre, British Library. The journal will also be registered with the official Open Archives registry, UIUC OAI registry, Social Science Research Network (SSRN) and OAIster so that the articles are indexed within a globally distributed system of research databases. The journal will also contribute to certain Libraries participating in the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system to ensure a secure and permanent archive for the journal. In addition, content of the journal will be indexed by Google Scholar and other search engines and also will be registered with Index Copernicus and other indexing system.Looking forward to your valuable contributions! Happy reading!Thank you,Executive Editor, Space and Culture, India

Rural Protest and the Making of Democracy in Mexico, 1968–2000

Rural Protest and the Making of Democracy in Mexico, 1968–2000

Bridge Safety Quick Test Vehicle Feasibility Development Research

Bridge construction is the national important foundation construction of bridge engineering, is the relationship between society and economy to coordinate development of lifeline engineering. Bridge construction of rapid development, huge capital investment, the economic society of the prominent role, making it to the bridge's safety, durability, more and more attention. Based on the analysis of detection results of existing bridges, bridge on the future work state of speculation, pointed out the possible development trend for the future to provide advice, bridge maintenance. As the bridge reinforcement and reconstruction to provide accurate and comprehensive data. The results of this study, can be formed quickly, economy of bridge health monitoring technology for bridge health security situation in the initial judgement; through the acquisition of the data of bridge health security archives; acquisition project archives data and webGIS docking platform form a" bridge based on webGIS project archives management system " for the future highway bridge maintenance and strengthening of decision making the corresponding reference. The project also has safety, economy, practical, convenient, and many other characteristics suitable for road and Bridge Health census and safety risk assessment.

On the Other Side of the River: Dr. Adolph Herschmann and the Zhmerinka Ghetto, 1941-1944

This article examines the history of the Zhmerinka ghetto in Transnistria and the fate of Jewish Council member Dr. Adolph Herschmann, who served as head of the ghetto from early 1943 through the end of the Romanian occupation in spring 1944. The article is based on records of Herschmann's trial recently released by the State Security Archives of Ukraine (SBU), as well as on testimonies of survivor-witnesses and other primary sources. The author provides a history of the Zhmerinka ghetto and the activities of its Jewish council under Romanian occupation. He argues that the exceptionally high rate of survival in the Zhmerinka ghetto was the result of the skillful, though controversial efforts of Dr. Herschmann and his council.

The USA and Sporting Diplomacy: Comparing and Contrasting the Cases of Table Tennis with China and Baseball with Cuba in the 1970s

When Beijing hosted the Olympic Games in 2008 we were reminded that almost four decades earlier the People’s Republic of China’s road back to international recognition and acceptance had begun with a chance sporting encounter between two members of the US and Chinese table tennis teams in Japan in 1971. It is less well known that not long after this successful ‘ping pong’ diplomatic episode, attempts were made by various parties to use baseball in a similar way to try and repair international ties between Cuba and the United States. In this article the circumstances through which the former succeeded whereas the latter failed miserably are subject to detailed examination. Drawing upon existing literature and unclassified material gleaned from the National Security Archive (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Archive we argue that for a number of historically specific reasons, and because of the different balances of interest and asymmetric power relations, ‘ping pong’ diplomacy was able to help broker rapprochement between the United States and China, whereas ‘baseball diplomacy’ could do little or nothing to stimulate diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana.

Justice in Guatemala

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsKate DoyleKate Doyle is a senior analyst and director of the Guatemala Documentation Project at the National Security Archive. In May she will receive the ALBA/Puffin Foundation Award for Human Rights Activism.

SU‐E‐T‐30: National Radiation Oncology Registry: Concept to Design Specification

Purpose: To present the design and system architecture of the National Radiation Oncology Registry (NROR) to electronically collect aggregated data on cancer patients treated with radiotherapy with the goal of evaluating comparative effectiveness of competing radiotherapy treatments, outcomes, “patterns of care”, gaps in quality, safety, and cost. Methods: The design requirements include a secure automatic upload and archival of anonymized patient data, a web‐based upload/download tool for reviewing the collected data in a distributed database environment. The system design and architecture utilizes Web‐based technology and current available commercial products to automatically abstract dosimetric parameters from the treatment planning systems and outcome parameters from clinician reported outcome (CRO) portal, patient reported outcome (PRO) portal, and radiotherapy electronic medical record (RT‐EMR) systems. A centralized NROR Server would contain interfaces, templates and data dictionary, allowing integration of all collected patient data into a centralized data base and would provide a web ‐based tool to manage, review and analyze these data for outcome and competitive effectiveness research (OCER). Results: The design and system architecture is ready for implementation. A pilot registry of prostate cancer patients treated with different modalities of radiation treatments is planned to test the electronic infrastructure for registry data collection. The system will be initially deployed at a limited number of volunteer institutions (approximately 20) to test the concepts and sustainability of the NROR. These institutions will be selected in such a way that they represent a population‐based sample for OCER. Conclusions: The establishment of the National Radiation Oncology Registry will be of great benefit to treating radiation oncologists and other care providers, payors, vendors, policy‐makers and most importantly cancer patients by capturing reliable information on population based treatment delivery and health outcomes.

CHAOS BASED PARTIAL ENCRYPTION OF SPIHT COMPRESSED IMAGES

Resource-constrained wireless IP networks require compression based encryption techniques for secure archival, transmission and distribution of multimedia data. A partial encryption technique based on SPIHT encoder is thus proposed that provides enhanced security level by encrypting selected bit values and keeping the encrypted bit locations as secret. The proposed technique preserves the scalability property of the encoder and provides high data security without adversely affecting the compression efficiency. Two new edge based parameters, edge ratio and edge differential ratio are also proposed to measure the degradation in the encrypted image. Thorough performance and security analysis as regards to various evaluation metrics ascertains its high performance and ability to withstand cryptanalytic attacks.