The State Department has quietly erased part of the historical record about one of the Cold War’s most perilous moments—without saying why. As The Washington Post reported, officials deleted 15 pages from a Reagan-era history detailing how a 1983 NATO exercise, known as Able Archer 83, nearly triggered a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union. The missing section had included a Defense Intelligence Agency warning that the exercise brought the United States “closer to nuclear war than most realized.” Since 1991, the department has been legally required to publish “a thorough, accurate, and reliable” account of U.S. foreign policy within 30 years, compiled in the Foreign Relations of the United States series. The Reagan-era volume—originally published online in 2021—vanished from the State Department website in 2022. When it resurfaced in January 2025, the Able Archer material was gone. All that remains is a brief note saying 15 pages were redacted, no reason given. A former State Department official told The Post the move was “not wise,” warning it could trigger the “Streisand effect.” Asked why the deletion wasn’t explained, a spokesperson replied that “the Department was not required to provide public notice.”
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