US Military Uses of Space, 1946-1991 is a themed microfilm collection which presents an integrated record of US military space organisations, operations, and policy from 1945 to 1991. Included are memoranda, messages, presidential decision documents, program management directives, histories, organisational manuals, reports, and studies. Documents concern four basic areas of US space military activity: military support systems (communications, meteorology, reconnaissance and other satellites), space weaponry (anti-satellite weapons and the Strategic Defense Initiative), policy, and organisation. Material concerning military support systems includes papers relating to the establishment of a US photographic reconnaissance satellite program, 1956; US Air Force contracts to Lockheed Missile Systems Division to develop the WS-117L air reconnaissance satellite, 1956-57; the development of the US Air Force reconnaissance satellite, codenamed SENTRY and then SAMOS, 1958; the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) research and development of an imaging satellite, codenamed CORONA, 1958; launching of CORONA satellite, 18 Aug 1960; the development and launch of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites designed to provide nuclear explosion detection data relevant to military intelligence collection, treaty verification (Limited Test Ban Treaty, Threshold Ban Treaty, Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Outer Space Treaty), and damage assessment, 1963-1970; development and launch of signals intelligence (SIGINT) satellites, including the RHYOLITE communications satellite, 1970; the launch of the KH-11 electro-optical 'pixel' imaging satellite, Dec 1976; development and launch of ocean surveillance PARCAE satellites, 1976-1989; communications intelligence (COMINT) satellite including the VORTEX and MAGNUM satellites, 1978-1985; the launch of synthetic aperture radar system LACROSSE satellites, 1988-1991; the development and launch of early warning satellites including the Missile Defense Alarm System (MIDAS) to monitor the missile launches from the Eurasian land mass and Submarine- Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs); papers relating to launch systems, including expendable launch vehicles (ELVs), such as modified Martin SM-68 Titan Inter- Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). Material concerning space weaponry includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology report to US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, introducing theoretical and scientific concepts for a laser weapons missile defence program, 1984; reports from the US Department of Defense, Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, to the US Congress relating to the costs of a laser and kinetic energy anti-ballistic missile program and its proposed compliance with the 26 May 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, 1984-1990; report from the US Department of Defense, Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, to the US Congress outlining the goals, objectives, and costs of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), 1985; reports from the US General Accounting Office relating to the SDI concept change from laser and kinetic energy weapons to 'Brilliant Pebbles' weaponry, in which several thousand satellite interceptors would orbit the earth having the capability to destroy missile targets, 1990-1991. Documents relating to US military space policy include reports from the US National Security Council outlining the significance of space with respect to US national security, 1958-1985; memoranda from the US Department of Defense urging military priorities for space research, 1959-1977. Material relating to the organisational command of the military space program includes function manuals and inter-agency memoranda detailing the structure and role of specific organisations such as US Aerospace Command, the US Department of Defense, US Air Force Space Command, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, the US Army Space Agency, and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The Soviet Estimate: US Analysis of the Soviet Union, 1947-1991 is a themed microfilm collection which presents an integrated record of US intelligence estimates and studies relating to Soviet strategic projections, military capabilities, science and technology, economics and internal politics, 1946-1991. The estimates and studies were produced either collectively as national intelligence products or by individual agencies, and include contributions from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); the Director of Central Intelligence; the US Defense Intelligence Agency; and, the US State Department. The collection includes CIA and British Secret Intelligence Service debriefing transcripts of former Soviet Gavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravleniye (GRU), Chief Intelligence Directorate, Soviet General Staff, operative Oleg V Penkovskii, relating to Soviet military organisation and plans for nuclear war, Soviet nuclear targets and deployments in Europe, missile technology and launch sites, Soviet military personnel, the capture of Capt Francis Gary Powers, US Air Force U-2 High Altitude Reconnaissance Aircraft pilot, 1 May 1960, profiles of Soviet military officers, locations of Soviet nuclear weapons tests, Soviet intelligence organisations and Soviet chemical and biological weapons programs, Soviet development and deployment of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), positions of Soviet divisions in East Germany, and the Berlin Crisis (1958- 1962), 20 Apr-14 Oct 1961; yearly US estimates of Soviet strategic capabilities, 1947- 1983, including the 'missile gap' National Intelligence Estimates, 1957-1961; detailed estimates of the Soviet space program, including National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) relating to lunar exploration, manned space flight, reconnaissance satellites, space exploration, space weapons and weapons development, 1962-1967; US Air Force report entitled 'A History of Strategic Arms Competition: Volume 3, A Handbook of Selected Soviet Weapons and Space Systems', including data relating to Soviet air to surface missiles (AS), Tupolev bomber aircraft, M-4 / Mya-4 / 2M Myasishchev ('Bison') aircraft, space weapons, communication satellites, electronic intelligence capabilities, surface to surface (SS) theatre missiles and ICBMs, Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBMs), Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs), Jun 1976; US intelligence community experiment in competitive analysis conducted by the CIA 'B Team' relating to US misperceptions of Soviet strategic objectives and offensive and defensive forces, Dec 1976; report from the US Department of State entitled 'History of the Strategic Arms Competition 1945-1972, parts 1 and 2', including detailed surveys and analyses of Soviet and US decision making on nuclear forces, force deployments, and nuclear strategies, Mar 1981; Special National Intelligence Estimate relating to Soviet support for international terrorism and revolutionary activities, including mention of arms transfers, military training, political violence, and terrorist activities in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, May 1981; reports from the CIA concerning Soviet perspectives on research and development in energy-directed weapons and involvement in space weapons and Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) research, 1985; National Intelligence Estimates relating to General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev's prospects for reforming the Soviet economic and political system, including mention of his economic agenda and its implications for the Soviet military program, the dynamics of Soviet civil-military relations, the impact of reforms on labour production, health, standards of living and technological development, and the rise of civil unrest and nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1985- 1989; CIA report concerning the probabilities of a coup d'etat in the Soviet Union and the growing influence of Chairman of the Russian Republic Supreme Soviet, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, May 1991.

The Diaries of Dwight D Eisenhower, 1953-1961, consists of a varied body of microfilmed manuscripts that contain several categories of material, arranged chronologically by month and year. Diary entries and dictated correspondence are filed in folders entitled 'DDE Diary'; 'DDE Personal Diary'; or 'DDE Dictation'. The bulk of actual diary entries falls into the years 1953-1956. Another prominent category is memoranda of telephone conversations with the more detailed conversations dating prior to 1959. The largest body of material is the official White House staff memoranda, reports, correspondence, and summaries of congressional correspondence. These types of documents are found in folders labelled 'Miscellaneous', 'Goodpaster', 'Staff Memos', and after 1957, 'Staff Notes'. Herein are the memoranda of conversations, or 'memcons', prepared by Gen Andrew Jackson Goodpaster, Defense Liaison Officer and Staff Secretary to the President of the United States. From 1956 to the end of the administration, 'Toner Notes' were produced, so named for White House staff member Albert Toner, who with fellow White House Research Group member Christopher Russell, prepared daily intelligence briefings for the President. Material in the collection includes entries relating to Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy and the trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg; correspondence with Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon; Prisoners of War exchanges in Korea; rapprochement between Argentina and the US; military aid to Yugoslavia; Eisenhower's 'Atoms for Peace' speech 1953; the situation in Indochina, 1954; the use of psychological warfare in the Third World; relations between the US and the People's Republic of China; France and the European Defence Community; waning British and French colonial ties; the Baghdad Pact, 1955; the Suez Crisis, 1956; US Joint Chiefs of Staff strategic planning in Europe; the Soviet invasion of Hungary, 1956; plans for mutual security arrangements with favoured nations; the Military Assistance Program; the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; the African- American civil rights movement; military officer exchanges between Israel and the US; the American, British and Canadian Army Standardization Program; US Department of Defense budgetary matters; the 'Vanguard' satellite program, 1957; nuclear weapons, nuclear strategy and the US-Soviet 'missile gap'. Correspondents include HM King George V; Gen Juan Domingo Peron, president of Argentina; Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy; Rt Hon Sir Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill; Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India; Dr Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany; Gen Douglas MacArthur; Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr; Special Assistant to the President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller; Gen Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle, President of France; Rt Hon (Maurice) Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of Great Britain; Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and Chairman of the Soviet Council of Ministers; (David) Dean Rusk, President of the Rockefeller Foundation; John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State, 1953-1959; Herbert Hoover, Jr, Under Secretary of State, 1954-1957; Christian Archibald Herter, Under Secretary of State, 1957-1959.

Minutes and Documents of the Cabinet Meetings of President Eisenhower, 1953-1961 is a themed microfilm collection which includes copies of the minutes, memoranda, and supporting documents of the Cabinet meetings during the Presidential administration of Dwight David Eisenhower, 12 Dec 1952-13 Jan 1961. The meetings included discussions relating to all aspects of the domestic and foreign policy affairs of the United States. Meeting minutes relate to the addition to the Cabinet of the post of US Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1953; the armistice talks which ended the Korean War, 1953; the US Supreme Court decision declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, 1954; US military and financial commitment to Indo-China, 1954; American entry into the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), 1954; Eisenhower's re-election strategy, campaign, and victory, 1956; the Suez Crisis, 1956; the adoption of the 'Eisenhower Doctrine', which stated that the United States would provide military and economic aid to any nation in the Middle East threatened by communism, 1957-1959; the launch of US satellites in response to the Soviet launch of the 'Sputnik' satellite, 1958; American intervention into Lebanon, 1958; the adoption of Alaska and Hawaii as US states, 1959; and the election of John Fitzgerald Kennedy as President of the United States, 1960.

Records of central administration of the Post Office Telegraphs and Telephones (later Post Office Telecommunications) including records of the Post Office Board (including meeting papers TCB 54), Post Office Advisory Committee and other central functions.

The records concern both strategic telegraphy and telephony activities, such as policy, planning, legal papers (including on the takeover of the National Telephone Company) and routine reporting, and central operational activities including personnel and communications (including Joint Production Council publications, staff magazines, press notices, media coverage and training school and studio photographs).

These central administration records also include the minuted papers relating to telecommunication services 1889-1977 that, for various reasons, fell outside previous archival transfer. The subjects in these minuted papers (TCB 2) include satellite communications (Early Bird), international telephone services, policies toward staff and unions, telephone information services (including ship telephone services, roads and weather, teletourist service, speaking clock and the Santa Claus service), and technological developments (including telephone kiosks, the answering machine, "Amplifying Telephone" and "Laryngaphone").