SPECIAL   FBI - NARA FILES

   These FBI Files encompass the communications between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) after a court dispute that led to a rethinking of FBI records practices.

   After the FBI had ordered the broad destruction of millions of pages of its Field Office files, a court ordered that the FBI would halt these improper records destruction practices.  The National Archives undertook a study in conjunction with the FBI to survey the records held by the FBI and assess their historical importance and determine how much of each type of material should be preserved and ultimately sent to the Archives.  These files document the back and forth discussions between the National Archives and the FBI regarding Bureau records and which ones would be preserved and sent to the Archives.

   These files are a treasure chest of important data, and a roadmap to help identify historically significant FBI files that are available for the asking.

Each of the 51 individual files is available from the links below, as is the entire group of files in a single Zip file at the bottom of the page:

Back to governmentattic home page