Records of the Central Intelligence Agency (RG 263)

Files released in response to the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act and the Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Act

• CIA Name Files [ First Release] - Entry ZZ-16
• CIA Subject Files [First Release] - Entry ZZ-17
• CIA Name Files [Second Release] - Entry ZZ-18
• CIA Subject Files [Second Release] - Entry ZZ-19
• CIA Lexicon - Finding Aid
• Select Documents [OSS, SSU, CIG, CIA] 1941-1948 - Entry ZZ-20
• Notorious Nazi Files - Entry UD-2
• Venona Messages – Entry P-11

Name and Subject Files, ZZ-16 - ZZ-19

CIA Name and Subject Files released under the war crimes disclosure acts fall into two groups: (1) those released prior to February 2005 that were the result of the CIA's initial effort and in accordance with then current CIA release guidance and (2) those compiled after the extension of the acts in February 2005 that were released in accordance with a significantly reduced restrictive release policy. One part of the second release entailed the re-review of materials previously withheld and resulted in the release of more information on the same individuals and subjects. In addition, the CIA expanded its searches on names and subjects greatly expanding the number of files and tripling the volume of the collection.

First Release

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Name Files and Subject Files compiled by the CIA in response to the Disclosure Acts. These files are comprised of documentation from several CIA filing systems and are organized under the names of 788 individuals and subjects found in response to many thousands of search terms and subject matter guidance provided to the Agency by the IWG. The approximately 60,000 pages provide information on wartime crimes; on the postwar search for, contact with, and intelligence use of war criminals and Nazi collaborators; and new information on the workings of U. S. intelligence during the Cold War.

For more information, see the First Release Scope & Content Note in the Online Catalog.

Second Release

CIA Name Files and Subject Files compiled by the Central Intelligence Agency in response to the Disclosure Acts. These files are comprised of documentation from several CIA filing systems and are organized under the names of approximately 1100 individuals and subjects. These files include biographical sketches, correspondence, reports, memorandums, messages, telegrams, publications, clippings, dispatches, translations, transcripts, legislative records, legal documents, statements, lists, and other records. Many of the records relate to people in one or both of two categories: Axis personnel accused of committing war crimes, or of belonging to criminal organizations, during World War II; and former Axis personnel who were used by the U. S. as intelligence sources during the Cold War.

For more information, see the Second Release Scope & Content Note in the Online Catalog.

Lexicon, a Finding Aid for the Second Release

The Lexicon is an essential tool to be used while examining the extensive operational records turned over by the Central Intelligence Agency in the Second Release.

The CIA produced a major finding aid to be used in conjunction with the Second Release Name and Subject Files. The 59 page Lexicon provides a wide range of definitions, identifications, and explanations associated with the CIA in its activities in Europe following World War II. Persons associated with intelligence activities and operations are identified not only by their real names, but also by various aliases, code names, and by their association with such bodies as the Gehlen Organization, CIA Operations in Eastern Europe and elsewhere are defined along with their operational code names and cryptonyms. Organizational elements of the CIA itself are identified by various cryptonyms and code words.

Both releases include documentation relating to people who were never accused of war crimes or of belonging to criminal organizations, but who may have been associated with war crimes as victims, witnesses, investigators, sources, or officials.

RG 263, Entry ZZ-20:

Select Documents [OSS, SSU, CIG, CIA] 1941-1948 Released under the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act - Entry ZZ-20 (20 boxes). Document list. Record location: 230/86/44/3-6.

A General Description of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Selected Documents, 1941-1948 (Entry ZZ-20)

This artificial series of "withdrawn-withdrawn" material was created by the CIA in partial response to the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act. The Select Documents [generally related to war crimes and war criminals] are copies of still classified documents received by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), primarily during the 1942-1947 period. These documents were withdrawn from the OSS records that were being transferred to NARA in the 1970s and 1980s. These security-classified withdrawn records were subsequently transferred by the CIA to NARA in 1997 and 400,000 pages of these withdrawn records were declassified and released in late June 2000.

These Select Documents are part of a collection of documents that had been previously withdrawn from the withdrawn OSS records; thus their title "withdrawn-withdrawn" materials. A high proportion of the records consist of British intelligence records sent to OSS. The records contain a significant set of British decodes (in translation) of German SD messages sent in code by wireless telegraphy between Rome and Berlin during the late summer and fall of 1943. They provide information on the roundup and transfer of Italian Jews to Auschwitz and the transportation of 50 kilograms of gold that the Nazis had extracted from the Jewish community in Rome. Another set of British records consists of excerpts of secretly tape-recorded conversations among German POWs. Still other British records contain summaries of interrogations of captured SS and police officers that had served in Nazi-occupied countries. The records also contain many debriefings of individuals who escaped Germany or German-occupied territories.

Also included in among the records are numerous Safehaven Program reports dealing with looted and other assets. Copies of most, if not all, of these Safehaven reports were declassified in 1975 and form part of the Formerly Security Classified Reports ("XL" Series, Entry 19 of RG 226). The records were received in four batches and are roughly arranged by a CIA assigned document number. A document listing is included in the front of each box. Boxes 1-20.
See a complete listing of the documents.

RG 263, Entry UD-2: Notorious Nazi Files

[preliminary files delivered in 2000 in response to the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act]

CIA dossiers were compiled for the following individuals:

Historical Analysis of 20 Name Files from CIA Records, by Prof. Breitman

Venona Messages, (Entry P-11)

Boxes 1-6 location: stack 190: A/63/1

This series consists of decrypted, annotated translations of Soviet diplomatic telegrams intercepted by the U.S. during and after World War II. The messages mainly relate to the many worldwide espionage and counterespionage activities of the Soviet foreign intelligence services, most notably the activities of Soviet agents in the U.S. and Great Britain. These agents included Klaus Fuchs, Harry Gold, David Greenglass, Theodore Hall, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who provided the Soviets with information about the U.S. atomic bomb project; suspected agents William Perl and Harry Dexter White; and British Intelligence double agents Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, and Kim Philby. The records also provide information relating to Soviet agents who infiltrated the Department of Justice, the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the Office of Strategic Services, and the War Department; as well as agents with access to the White House, Congress, political parties, the media, and defense industries.

For more information, see the Venona Messages Scope & Content Note in the Online Catalog.

Folder List

All questions regarding these and other relevant records likely to be in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration should be directed to: Archives2reference@nara.gov.

For More Information

Researchers seeking release of information withheld by agencies from these files should submit a Freedom of Information or other request directly to the National Archives Access/FOIA LICON (NWCTF).