Commentary on "History Declassified"

In their welcome article, "History Declassified," Zachary Karabell and Timothy Naftali offer valuable insights and advice for researchers first approaching the new intelligence documentation that the CIA has begun to declassify. From their experience with CIA records already available on the 1954 Guatemalan coup, the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, and the 1979 Iranian crisis, the authors appraise the "perils and promise" of the CIA's emerging new body of documentation. While it is not my purpose to quarrel with their judgments and opinions, I think that I can add some information that the article overlooks and clarify several misunderstandings about how the CIA's Historical Review Program actually works.