New FRUS Volume Declassified After Four Year Review
The latest volume of the State Department’s Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series documents U.S. Mideast policy before, during and immediately after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. It was published this month following a four year declassification review that lasted from 2006 to 2010.
Among numerous topics of historic and current interest, the 1200 page volume (pdf) touches glancingly on the issue of Israel’s nuclear weapons program.
“Do Egypt and Israel have the capability to make nuclear weapons?” asked Sen. Mike Mansfield at a November 27, 1973 White House meeting (page 993). “Israel has the capability to make small numbers,” answered Henry Kissinger. “Not Egypt.” (This exchange was also noted by Amir Oren in Ha’aretz on July 22).
The late Admiral Noel A. Gayler, the former NSA director and advocate of nuclear disarmament who died July 14, is included on the list of “Persons” in the new FRUS volume though his name does not appear elsewhere in the text.
Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed revoking its 2009 “endangerment finding” that greenhouse gases pose a substantial threat to the public. The Federation of American Scientists stands in strong opposition.
Modernizing ClinicalTrials.gov will empower patients, oncologists, and others to better understand what trials are available, where they are available, and their up-to-date eligibility criteria, using standardized search categories to make them more easily discoverable.
The Federation of American Scientists supports H.R. 4420, the Cool Corridors Act of 2025, which would reauthorize the Healthy Streets program through 2030 and seeks to increase green and other shade infrastructure in high-heat areas.
The current lack of public trust in AI risks inhibiting innovation and adoption of AI systems, meaning new methods will not be discovered and new benefits won’t be felt. A failure to uphold high standards in the technology we deploy will also place our nation at a strategic disadvantage compared to our competitors.