FAS

Records of 1940 Katyn Massacre Declassified

09.10.12 | 1 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

The National Archives announced that it has declassified over a thousand pages of records pertaining to the 1940 massacre of thousands of Polish Army officers and intellectuals in the Katyn Forest in the Soviet Union.

The Katyn massacre has been a subject of intense interest and controversy in Poland, as well as a perennial irritant in Polish-Russian relations.  The question of US knowledge of the massacre, and the possibility of a US coverup designed to protect the World War II alliance with the Soviet Union, has been a topic of speculation in the Polish press which some Polish observers hoped might be confirmed by the newly declassified records.

publications
See all publications
Government Capacity
Blog
Everything You Need to Know (and Ask!) About OPM’s New Schedule Policy/Career Role: Oversight Resource for OPM’s Schedule Policy/Career Rule

This rule gives agencies significantly more authority over certain career policy roles. Whether that authority improves accountability or creates new risks depends almost entirely on how agencies interrupt and apply it. 

02.13.26 | 8 min read
read more
Government Capacity
Policy Memo
Report
Rebuilding Environmental Governance: Understanding the Foundations

Our environmental system was built for 1970s-era pollution control, but today it needs stable, integrated, multi-level governance that can make tradeoffs, share and use evidence, and deliver infrastructure while demonstrating that improved trust and participation are essential to future progress.

02.12.26 | 26 min read
read more
Government Capacity
Policy Memo
Report
Costs Come First in a Reset Climate Agenda

Durable and legitimate climate action requires a government capable of clearly weighting, explaining, and managing cost tradeoffs to the widest away of audiences, which in turn requires strong technocratic competency.

02.12.26 | 41 min read
read more
Environment
Press release
FAS Launches New “Center for Regulatory Ingenuity” to Modernize American Governance, Drive Durable Climate Progress

FAS is launching the Center for Regulatory Ingenuity (CRI) to build a new, transpartisan vision of government that works – that has the capacity to achieve ambitious goals while adeptly responding to people’s basic needs.

02.12.26 | 4 min read
read more