The Hoover Institution Library & Archives has acquired and will make available to the public the archive of the CRRC, which was established to fulfill former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ intent to enable research on captured records with “complete openness and rigid adherence to academic freedom and integrity.” The CRRC’s mission was to facilitate the use of captured records to support research both within and outside the U.S. government.
The CRRC collection is comprised of digitized documents captured by the United States military during combat operations, including Al-Qaeda and associated movements documents captured in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein regime documents captured in Iraq, and offers crucial insights into questions on national security, military strategy, and foreign relations between 1970 and 2003.
The collection is a valuable resource for academic researchers studying the regime of Saddam Hussein and senior officials and also Al-Qaeda activities. The Al-Qaeda material includes items on intelligence, security, communications, propaganda, finance, recruiting, diplomatic affairs, training and education, operations and attacks, and records of specific missions from the Afghan war. Regarding Saddam Hussein and Iraq, the collection consists of materials on the Iraqi Armed Forces General Command, Ba'ath Party, Fedayeen Saddam, Iraqi General Military Intelligence Directorate, Iraqi Directorate of General Security, Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iraqi Ministry of Defense, and records from the Presidential Diwan. All original materials are accompanied by a summary cover sheet in English and complete unofficial English translations.
The CRRC collection contains over 1,100 records and more than 150 hours of audio and visual recordings. The records that will be made available to the public will include original Arabic, Dari, and Pashtu documents as well as English translations. The records will be searchable through the Hoover Institution Digital Collection that can be accessed through Hoover’s reading rooms on the Stanford campus and at the Hoover Institution’s Washington DC office.
Above photo: The CRRC logo prior to its closing
The CRRC collection was originally opened to scholars at the National Defense University in Washington D.C. in 2010, but was shut down in 2015 due to operational cuts in the U.S. government budget.
During its five years of operation at the National Defense University, the CRRC’s records were accessed by over 200 researchers, many of whom incorporated the records into significant historical books and academic articles.
“We are delighted that the valuable materials held in the CRRC collection will once again be made available for scholars, students, and policymakers seeking to better understand the Middle East,” said Eric Wakin, the Everett & Jane Hauck Director of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Haidar Hadi, Hoover’s Curator for the Middle East and North Africa, added, “The documents of the CRRC are a great compliment to the records of Iraq’s Ba’ath Party that are currently held at Hoover. For years, scholars of South Asia and the Arab world have hoped to re-open the records of the CRRC in order to better understand recent conflicts in the region. We are happy to provide access to such a valuable trove of materials that will no doubt provide insight for historians and other researchers.”
The CRRC records are only available digitally via computer workstations in the reading room at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives on the Stanford University campus or at the satellite reading room at the Hoover Institution’s Washington D.C. office. All users must sign Hoover’s use agreement. Before visiting a Hoover reading room, a user will also need to register with Aeon, Hoover’s online registration and request system. Please consult our Plan a Research Visit page for more information on accessing collection material.
The finding aid for the CRRC records can be viewed here.
For inquiries related to accessing collections, please contact: Research Services.
