Svetlana Savranskaya

Thomas S. Blanton

This book publishes for the first time in print every word the American and Soviet leaders – Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, and George H.W. Bush – said to each other in their superpower summits from 1985 to 1991. Obtained by the authors through the Freedom of Information Act in the U.S., from the Gorbachev Foundation and the State Archive of the Russian Federation in Moscow, and from the personal donation of Anatoly Chernyaev, these previously Top Secret verbatim transcripts combine with key declassified preparatory and after-action documents from both sides to create a unique interactive documentary record of these historic highest-level talks – the conversations that ended the Cold War. The summits fueled a process of learning on both sides, as the authors argue in contextual essays on each summit and detailed headnotes on each document. Geneva 1985 and Reykjavik 1986 reduced Moscow's sense of threat and unleashed Reagan's inner abolitionist. Malta 1989 and Washington 1990 helped dampen any superpower sparks that might have flown in a time of revolutionary change in Eastern Europe, set off by Gorbachev and by Eastern Europeans (Solidarity, dissidents, reform Communists). The high level and scope of the dialogue between these world leaders was unprecedented, and is likely never to be repeated.

Reagan, Gorbachev and Bush. Conversations that Ended the Cold War.

The Last Superpower Summits

Jon Mills

David Cole

Edward Wasserman

Barry Siegel

Ronald Goldfarb

Hodding Carter, III

Was Edward Snowden a patriot or a traitor? Just how far do American privacy rights extend? And how far is too far when it comes to government secrecy in the name of security? These are just a few of the questions that have dominated American consciousness since Edward Snowden exposed the breath of the NSA's domestic surveillance program. In these seven previously unpublished essays, a group of prominent legal and political experts delve in to life After Snowden, examining the ramifications of the infamous leak from multiple angles: • Washington lawyer and literary agent RONALD GOLDFARB acts as the book's editor and provides an introduction outlining the many debates sparked by the Snowden leaks. • Pulitzer Prize winning journalist BARRY SIEGEL analyses the role of the state secrets provision in the judicial system. • Former Assistant Secretary of State HODDING CARTER explores whether the press is justified in unearthing and publishing classified information. • Ethics expert and dean of the UC Berkley School of Journalism EDWARD WASSERMAN discusses the uneven relationship between journalists and whistleblowers. • Georgetown Law Professor DAVID COLE addresses the motives and complicated legacy of Snowden and other leakers. • Director of the National Security Archive THOMAS BLANTON looks at the impact of the Snowden leaks on the classification of government documents. • Dean of the University of Florida Law School JON MILLS addresses the constitutional right to privacy and the difficulties of applying it in the digital age.

Privacy, Secrecy, and Security in the Information Age

After Snowden

Thomas S. Blanton

About

Books

Join the club