Can anyone tell me where I can find declassified documents on how the Department of Defense assisted the UK militarily and logistically before and during the Falklands war? We can find how the Department of State dealt with the crisis at Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XIII, Conflict in the South Atlantic, 1981–1984 - Office of the Historian, but I cannot find anything on how the Defense Department dealt with the UK during the Falklands Crisis. Please help me to find the documents on the US assistance to Britain during the Falklands Crisis recorded by the Defense Department. Thank you in advance.
I think you might not have much joy in that. Plus, “dealt with” sounds like you’re looking for something adversarial, although the UK and the US are allies and have been for quite some time, to include the time of the Falklands War.
You could always submit a Freedom of Information Request to the Department of Defense, but be careful with that. IIRC, those requesting the information have to pay for the work involved in getting it. Let’s hope I’m wrong about that last part.
May I ask what you’re hoping to discover? AFAIK, the US thought the Thatcher government was too quick on the draw, but still the Americans provided some assistance to the UK, both communications and armaments.
Without admitting that the US had broken Argentine codes, Haig’s [The US secretary of state] memoirs mention an unhelpful item on ABC Nightline which he had tried to stop (Caveat , p285) when Carl Bernstein had reported. A declassified CIA document points a finger in another direction: it includes an article from the New York Times from 15 April: “US Providing British a Wide Range of Intelligence”.
Around 40 CIA documents on the war have been released through the agency’s “CIA Records Search Tool” database (CREST). These are items more than 25 years old that the agency has been obliged to release by a Clinton-era Executive Order (EO 12958/13256), rather than responses to Freedom of Information Act requests, which probably gives this mini-collection a little more coherence and completeness than it might otherwise have
One would imagine that the UK would expect access to US sourced intelligence under the Five Eyes alliance. That is rather what it is for. So no surprise there.
I suspect that beyond that there will be little to no information on exactly what was used. Members of the alliance will be very loath to reveal information about the activities of partners, and likely these activities are ring fenced from declassification.
I want to know about any disagreements or divisions in the department before and during the crisis. I guess there were some divisions within the department because DOD played a very important role in fighting communism with Argentina in Central America. There must have been some feelings for Argentina.
No, nothing like that.
Actually, I’m writing a thesis through the lens of Organizational Behavior model to find out how organization behavior like DOD influence the decision-making process during the crisis for the sake of research of American foreign policy.
That sounds fair, but it’s not what you said you’re looking for. You said “there must be” something. That’s an unsubstantiated opinion, or basically a hope. Take the situation, then examine the decisions made and how they were made. Then you develop a thesis.
When I say “There must have been some feelings for Argentina,” I made the hypothesis based on the US-Argentine cooperation in containing the spread of communism at the time. That’s why I want to find out if my hypothesis can be verified by the behaviors of the DOD that played a very essential role in the conflict. I know probably I’ll never get to read documents recording how the DOD dealt with the “painful choice” due to the sensitivity of the issue as Francis_Vaughan observed in his reply.
Well the Ascension Island base, staffed by americans , became very very busy… But that wasn’t a new agreement for the war…
maybe there is something about the extra supplies and staff the island will need ?
Here’s a list of documents… and their summary is there too
So here’s a document which states how the UK will request help…
One document says " It was suggested that DoD advise the British counterparts not to come forward with a request at this time and that Secretary Haig, through his channels, would ask the British not to ask us because we wanted to be in a position of saying we were not asked." … LOL… But the subject they are referring to is redacted… Translation "we are asking them not to put on their public record, so its all off record "
OH here… UK asks for 300 sidewinders, USA sends 100
Many people in the UK would remember what happened when General Nasser, egged on by the Soviets, and furious with the United States for reneging on a promise to provide funds for the construction of the Aswan Dam, decided to nationalise The Suez Canal.
The British were angered by the move and secretly sought the support of the French neighbouring Israel for an armed assault to retake the canal.
Behind schedule but ultimately successful, the Israeli, British and French troops landed at Port Said and Port Fuad and took control of the area around the Suez Canal, but faced with threats from Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to “nuke” Western Europe, the United States threatened all three nations with economic sanctions if they persisted in their attack.
The threats did their work: With no help forthcoming from the USA, British and French forces withdrew by December, and Israel finally bowed to U.S. pressure, relinquishing control over the canal to Egypt.
This time, of course, The USSR stayed out of it and even sided with us in the UN.