 Good morning and welcome. I'm John Fitzpatrick, Senior Director of Records of Access and Information Security Management of the National Security Council. It is my honor and privilege to be here this morning to introduce our distinguished guests. I'll pause for just a moment and let her in. To introduce our distinguished guests and to provide information about the final release of records for what is a most historic and significant exchange between our nations, the US Declassification Project for Argentina. We are here for the presentation of more than 5,500 records totaling over 43,000 pages of declassified documents related to human rights abuses committed during the military occupancy of Argentina. This release of records concludes a multi-year effort conducted by more than 16 executive branch agencies and departments, beginning in 2016 and spanning two administrations. Upon request by Argentine President Mauricio Macri, President Obama announced during his 2016 visit to Buenos Aires that the US government would embark on a comprehensive effort to identify additional records related to human rights abuses. In 2017, President Macri personally renewed his request to President Trump. And since then, the president has personally participated in the project, delivering records to President Macri during his visit to Washington, DC in April of 2017. Under the direction of the president, the project has resulted in declassification and release of more than 7,000 records, close to 50,000 pages of information for the benefit of the Argentine people. More than 380 members of the federal workforce contributed more than 30,000 hours to ensure the president's task, which called for airing on the side of inclusiveness in the search for records to ensure that it was successful. We're pleased to commemorate this event with our partners and we welcome the distinguished guests from the Argentine delegation. Minister Herman Carlos Garavano joins us on behalf of President Macri and will be accepting the records during our ceremony. Minister Garavano has served as the Minister of Justice and Human Rights since 2015. Prior to his tenure as minister, he served as the Attorney General of the city of Buenos Aires from 2007 to 2014. From 2005 to 2007, he was the Deputy Vice President of the Council, Attorney Generals, Attorneys, Public Defenders, and General Advisors of the Argentine Republic. In 2005, Minister Garavano was elected Vice President of the Justice Study Center of the Americas by the Organization of American States. He was also elected Judge for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires from 2003 to 2007. And his career includes extensive academic work across Latin America through the field of judicial reform. We will be hearing from him shortly, but I'm pleased to welcome and introduce Minister Garavano. I'm also pleased to welcome Argentine Ambassador to the United States, Fernando Oras de Rola and his lovely wife from the States this year. We are pleased the ambassador is able to join us this morning, although we thought for a minute he was going to be called to the White House, but we have worked things out appropriately. And your commitment to attend this ceremony speaks volumes as its significance to the Argentine people. Thank you for being here. I'd also like to welcome Ms. Gabrielle Quinteros, Director of the Human Rights Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immersion. We also welcome our guests from the Argentine Embassy and senior officials representing the participating government agencies and department that work so diligently on the project. On the US side, we welcome Corrine Stone, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Strategy and Engagement at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Corrine is representing the collective efforts of the intelligence community, community including the Central Intelligence Agency, and in particular represents the leadership the OD and I has taken to ensure the online release of these records to the public. I'll talk about that website later in the procedure. I welcome Assistant Attorney General for National Security, the Honorable John DeMurris, who represents the Department of Justice to include the Federal Bureau of Investigation that played a significant role in the review of law enforcement and intelligence records. I also welcome the Honorable John Dinkleman, Acting Assistant Secretary for Administration and Kevin O'Reilly, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, both from the Department of State. Karen Myers, Director of the Executive Services Director and Washington Headquarters Services, joins us to represent the components from the Department of Defense that supported the project. Those many components include the departments, the Air Force, Army, and Navy, the Defense Intelligence Agency, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the National Security Agency, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Southern Command, no stone unturned. We have in the audience today agency program managers and declassifiers, as well as leaders from civil society, whose support has been substantial in bringing increased awareness to the project. Next, I'd like to introduce the leader of the National Archives and our presiding official today, the Archivist of the United States, the Honorable David Esferio. David Esferio was confirmed as the 10th Archivist of the United States in November of 2009, National Archives and Records Administration is responsible for preserving and providing access to the records to the U.S. government. Now it has 44 facilities across the country, including 14 presidential libraries, containing approximately 14 billion with a fee, billion pages of textual records, 43 million photographs, miles and miles of film and video, and an ever-increasing number of electronic records. Previously, Mr. Ferriero served as the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries and held top positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Duke University. Mr. Ferriero will offer his remarks and then present the records to the minister. David. Thank you, John, and good morning. A special welcome to Attorney General Caravano and Ambassador DeRayo and Director Contarros. I'm honored to host you today, and I'd like to thank John Dinkelman, John DeMurrus, Karen Stone, Karen Myers, and Carlos Oslario for attending today's ceremony also. My first duty is to welcome you to my house, so welcome to the National Archives. The National Archives serves as a crucial role as our nation's record keeper. Our mission, as John said, is to collect, protect, and preserve the permanently valuable records of all three branches of the United States government. And we take this responsibility seriously. Public access to government records strengthens democracy by allowing citizens to hold their government accountable, understand their history, and participate more effectively in their government. When President Franklin Roosevelt who signed the legislation creating the National Archives articulated his vision and mission when he dedicated his presidential library in Hyde Park, New York, he said, it seems to me that the dedication of a library is in itself an act of faith to bring together the records of the past and to house them in buildings where they will be preserved for the use of men and women in the future. The nation must believe in three things. It must believe in the past, it must believe in the future, and it must, above all, believe in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they can gain in judgment in creating their own future, creating their own future, our mission. So today, as John said, that collection is actually over 15 billion sheets of paper, 44 billion photographs, miles and miles of film and video, and about six billion electronic records so far, the fastest record form in our collection and the thing that keeps me up at night. These records start with the Osvaligeans signed at Valley Forge by George Washington and his troops and go all the way up to the tweets that are being created as I am speaking. I'm speaking. I'm speaking. Millions of visitors and researchers visit us to learn more about our nation's history. As John said, we operate 44 facilities in 17 states, including the 14 presidential libraries and museums to research facilities here in D.C. and 14 regional archives around the country. I'm honored to host this important event on behalf of the President of the United States government, the 16 agencies that participated in the project and the American people. To set the stage and to emphasize its importance, I used my prerogative as arguments to showcase two treasures from our vault. Outside of this room, I hope you saw two treaties on display. In 1822, the United States was declared nation to recognize Argentina's Declaration of Independence from Spain. While our two nations enjoyed good relations and started trading, it was not until July 10th, 1853 that our two nations first formalized by lateral relations with the treaty to allow free navigation on the Parana and Uruguay rivers. This treaty focused solely on navigation rights, quickly read to an agreement of a broader treaty. And the second treaty, the Treaty of Friendship, Navigation and Commerce was signed shortly thereafter on July 27th, 1853 and expanded our relationship to include agreements to facilitate increased trade. So please have a look after the ceremony if you haven't already seen them. I also invite you to visit the public vaults in our museum where coincidentally, the Treaty of Friendship, Navigation and Commerce that the Argentine Confederation gave to the United States is now on display. This ornate version includes a skippet with a seal of the Argentine Confederation. The US Declassification Project for Argentina is both a historic and significant project. There have been other declassification projects in the past, but this one stands out for several reasons. First, the project span two presidential administrations. President Barack Obama directed agencies to conduct this project after receiving a request from President Markey. And then, and after President Markey renewed the request early in this administration, as John said, President Donald Trump directed that, it continued. The project is unparalleled for its scope and breadth. 16 executive agencies participated, over 380 employees from these agencies, spending 32,000 hours searching our records and reviewing them on a word basis. The results of those reviews are impressive and reflect the President's interest. More 43,000 pages are about to be publicly released and I think we're gonna see and hear about that later. The declassification rate on these pages is about 97% in aligns with the President's instruction to release as much information as possible. Another historic aspect of this project. Finally, the process for organizing and completing this project is unique. I attributed its success to the inclusion of all the stakeholders. They include the executive branch agencies working with officials from the Argentine embassy here in Washington, the United States embassy in Buenos Aires, and the Argentine government. There was also dialogue and communication with the Argentine civil society organizations including two video conferences. Historians working closely from within and outside government and cooperation with Carlos Osorio from the National Security Archive. I thank the National Archives staff who participated in this project. Staff from the National Declassification Center, the Center for Legislative Archives, the Presidential Materials Division, the Office of Innovation and Information Security Oversight Office, and archivists from the Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush Presidential Libraries. Our staff played a key role throughout this project. In August 2016, just two months after receiving the Presidential Directive, the archivists in the Presidential Libraries quickly compiled and reviewed over 1,000 pages of Presidential documents. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered these documents to President Mowley. Later that month on an official trip to Buenos Aires, in December 2016, as the government of Argentina honored the life of former Assistant Secretary of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Pat Darian, U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Noah Mahmet, delivered an additional 550 pages. These pages remain significant as they include information from 25 presidents' daily briefs from the Carter administrations. Daily presidents' daily briefs, as they're called, are among our nation's most sensitive intelligence documents and are compiled expressly for the President. Few others in government get to read them. The Carter administration records were not scheduled for review until the next decade. These declassified records allow for important contexts in aid historians and understanding President Carter's actions and policies regarding human rights violations in Argentina. In April 2017, President Trump provided over 3,000 pages of newly declassified documents to President Macri. They included documents from the Carter Library identified by Department of State Historians for inclusion in the South America volume of the Foreign Relations of the United States series, the official documentary and historical record of major United States foreign policy decisions and activities. For this last tranche of records, the staff of the National Degradation Center searched over 740 cubic feet of records and identified over 4,600 pages for inclusion. A cubic foot, for those of you who don't know, is about 3,000 pieces of paper, so 740 cubic feet. They included records created by the Air Force, Army and Departments of Justice, Labor and State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Joint Staff, the U.S. Information Agency, and U.S. Agency for International Development. The National Declassification Center staff was supported by declassification professionals from several agencies, and I'd like to thank the staff from the Air Force, the Army, the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the FBI, the Joint Staff, the Washington Headquarters Services at the Department of Defense, the Navy, the U.S. Southern Command and the Departments of Justice and State of the World. This collaboration illustrates how the National Declassification Center brings together people and processes within the executive government branch declassification community to advance declassification and public access to historical records. There are distinguished retired diplomats here today, like Ted Harris and Fred Rondon, who helped save lives working at the Department of State. And I believe you're very excited. There you are. Thanks for being here. Thank you. And thank you for what you accomplished. Mario DeCarol is here representing his wife, Isabelle Magnone. Her sister was arrested and disappeared in 1976. Her mother Angelica was one of the founders of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. And her father, Emilio, championed Human Rights and Accountability, who did including testifying in tribes. Where are you sitting? Thank you. Thank you for being here. Azul Hidalgo Sola is also here. Her grandfather, Ambassador Hector Hidalgo Sola, was kidnapped and disappeared in July 1977. And where is he? Thank you for being here. The records of Ted Harris and Fred Rondon are here at the National Archives. The records about Monica being known and the work of her parents for justice are here, just as records relating to the disappearance of Azul's grandfather are here. They help tell the story of this period in Argentine history and in our own history. On your way into this building this morning, you passed two monumental statues. One statue included the words, study the past. Using our private records, this project was designed to help families and victims find closure, peace, and justice. Ensure accountability and aid judicial processes. Aid Argentine citizens understand their history. The other statue included the words, the past is pro-luck. The declassification of these records greatly aids the national history so that we can learn from it the lessons from these records and from survivors and those who seek truth and justice for the people of Argentina are meaningful and offer hope for the future. Thank you. Presentation of the record. On behalf of the president, it is my honor to present you with these declassified records that are a symbol of our nation's mutual support of government and transparency and in the hope that they might provide assistance and offer some measure of healing for your country. I'm reading a letter from the president of the United States addressed to his Excellency Mauricio Macri, president of the Argentine Nation Buenos Aires. Dear Mr. President, it is my pleasure to commemorate the final delivery of records in the historic declassification project completed by the United States government on behalf of the people of Argentina and those victims of human rights abuses during the 1976 to 1983 period of military dictatorship. This project demonstrates our shared commitment to promoting open and transparent government. It also reflects the importance that the United States places in its relations with Argentina. Over the last three years, we were in the 16 executive branch departments and agencies reviewed thousands of records of historical significance for the project, including for the first time records from the United States intelligence, law enforcement and defense agencies. I am proud of our leaders, the dedicated federal workforce and our civil society partners, whose collective efforts resulted in providing the people of Argentina access to more than 7,000 historically significant records. Their contribution is but one example of the great work we expect of our public servants who perform their duties tirelessly to promote American democratic ideals, both here and abroad. The release of records constitutes the largest declassification of United States government records directly to a foreign government in history. My hope is that access to these records provides people of Argentina information to help in the healing process. Sincerely, Donald Trump. Minister Garba. Good morning. One of the guests. I give a few words in Spanish and then continue in English. I want to thank the National Archive. I want to thank all the staff and all the agencies of the United States who have worked on this process, which has been, as the President pointed out, a process that has been a great embargo and a great effort. I want to thank all the staff of the Argentine Fajada, of the Argentine Cancillary, and I especially want to thank the families of victims in the State Terrorism that accompany us here. They were also members, again, of the Plaza Mayor, of the CELS, who originally made this request. President Macri took on and worked thanks to the excellent relationship. First with President Obama, then with President Trump, to advance in this process, which I really think is a historical fact, because really the information will allow that, as I mentioned earlier, the judicial processes continue to advance and get to know Mac, get to know the dark side of this period so dark that we live in our country, and that this helps us to know that democracy, that the Republic is above everything else, that it is where we are in fact, without guarantees, without gifts. Beyond political, sociological differences, that we will have, and so it has to be a project for the future. In English. In the name of President Macri and the people of Argentina, thank you very much to all of you. Thank you very much for the effort you do to bring this information to our country. Information to help to heal the injuries to move forward, to bring justice, strong justice, memory, and truth. The last March 24th, March the 43rd, for the third anniversary of the last military coup, the stat, and the Argentine Republic await with great expectation this document which will constitute a valuable, invaluable contribution to the process of memory, truth, and justice. Our country has affirmed its commitment to achieve a fairer, more pacific and inclusive society. This document that I received today on behalf of the Argentine State make a contribution for building a more democratic society. Thanks to the fruitful dialogue between our nations, received today the largest release of the classified documents related to the last military dictatorship in our country. The information containing these documents will be fundamental for the Argentine justice to finish investigation cases of the past which are still pending and are related to one of the darkest time of our history. This is a good news for the Argentine people to learn from the past and not repeat in the future. This very motive moment is the achieve of the goal but at the same time remove the dark past of our history. We thank you and greatly value the fundamental contribution under the strain hinting of our bilateral relations and this is the result of the new direction of the Argentine foreign policy. A new paradigm whose main feature is the dialogue and integration after many years of isolation was a large process of work of many people, many agencies, many NGOs and this remove a lot of feelings, a lot of feelings but I think it's an example in both countries how we can get it work together. The different administrations, the different ideologies, the different vision of the world but we work together with a good objective. We work together for the democracy and for the people and this is a very important lesson, I think. A very important lesson. Argentine science and values therefore made by the National Security Council of the White House was representing for this classification process to the National Archive. Today we take this opportunity to condemn again the state terrorists and all kinds of terrorists. These days a lot of people in all the world suffer the consequences of the terrorists. And we need to work together for a stronger republic, for a stronger democracy and make a better world or live all together in peace. Thank you very much. Hi Mr. Minister Garbano for your eloquent remark regarding the government of Argentina. To provide more detail about the impact of the release of records in the Argentina declassification project I'd like to introduce Mr. Carlos Osorio Director of the Southern Cone Documentation Project at the National Security Archive. Since 2002 Carlos has published dozens of briefing books on state terrorism and US policy in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. He has produced annotated selections of US declassified documents which the National Security Archive provided to judges, lawyers and human rights groups in Argentina, Uruguay and Italy. Using US declassified documents and records from regional secret services Carlos has introduced critical evidence in multiple judicial proceedings including trials on Operation Condo and Operation Mexica involving high-ranking former military officers and presidents from Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Carlos has also worked with the Panama Truth Commission and the Guatemala Truth Commission to gather documents on military structure and deaths and disappearances in the 1970s. Carlos has been a partner supporting the Argentina declassification project and will speak to its significance to those seeking truth and justice through government accountability and elites. Carlos. Thank you. Thank you for those generous words of introduction. I want to say that it is such an honor to attend this special declassification diplomacy event on Argentina. And to participate in this historic turnover of history. I am grateful to Chief Archivist David Ferriero for hosting this unique gathering and I want to express my gratitude and that of my organization, the National Security Archive. To everyone at the Argentine Embassy, at the NSC, I cannot pinpoint you, at the National Archives who worked so very hard to organize this event on a very, very short notice. And let me personally extend my own welcome to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Hermán Caravan. Señor Ministro, bienvenido. Bienvenido a Washington. Que bueno que usted y Argentina ya tienen los documentos declassificados. Over at my organization, the National Security Archive, my colleagues and I have had the distinct experience of working on a number of major special U.S. government declassifications, projects like the ones on El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Chile, Brazil, et cetera. And even a previous release of State Department records on Argentina authorized by President Clayton Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright and completed by the State Department of George W. Bush in 2001. With all that previous experience, we have never witnessed the intensity and commitment by the professionals in the National Security Council and the agencies themselves to find in all the documents and declassifying them as fully as possible. Documents that once looked like this. Now look like this. I want to commend the Trump administration for supporting this project to completion. I want to commend everyone at the NSC and the agencies that found and reviewed these records for their excellent work in extricating thousands of these records from their SCIFS, those sensitive compartmented information facilities. Where these documents lead dormant for, in some cases, more than 40 years. In my mind, you are the liberators of history. You have fulfilled President Obama's original pledge when he authorized this declassification project that we have the responsibility to confront the past with honesty and transparency. You have met what Argentine novel Lord Pierce Perez Esquivel called the death of history the United States has in Argentina. And let me say to John Powers, who deserves special credit for leading the declassification project, you, sir, are the believer, the real believer of this moment. Here, here. And I want to thank you for your efforts to include not only myself in this unforgettable project, but also your outreach to the human rights community in Argentina. The extra efforts you have made to maintain communication with the human rights groups such as the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo is quite commendable. To the human rights groups of Argentina, we owe a special debt of gratitude. Despite the passage of decades, they have kept the memories of the victims of so many atrocities alive and maintain the moral and political pressure on their own government and on all of us to find out what happened to their loved ones and hold those responsible accountable. Finally, I would be remiss if I did not recognize the efforts of those diplomats, policymakers, and national security agents on the ground who generated the paper trail of history that is being declassified today. I want to recognize the work of diplomats. I bring to mind our ambassador Robert Hill, who for the first time confronted the military and he even confronted his superiors at the Department of State. I want to commend fighters, diplomats, such as Tex Harris, whose embassy cables repeatedly called attention to the human rights atrocities that were being committed around him. Mr. Harris is here today. Let me share with you our gratitude for participating in the first internal debate over standing up for the principles of human rights and human decency in U.S. foreign policy. And leaders like Patricia Darian and Mark Schneider and so many others helped to create a historical record on the issue of human rights. It is a historical record that holds many lessons for today and that remains highly relevant as the debate over U.S. foreign policy and human rights is revisited. Now, I have had the opportunity to review some of the extraordinary documents and I wanted to share with you my preliminary evaluation of their importance. They are rich in detail. They are riveting in their content as grim and sinister and horrific as that content often is in these records of repression. I am certain that this project represents a new model of declassification of decency. I am certain that the release of these records is a uniquely valuable contribution to the cause of human rights, the cause of justice and the cause of our fundamental right to know. That is because these documents name names. They name the names of the perpetrators and the names of the victims and they identify the gruesome and reprehensible human rights crimes that they were committed. And because they name those names, they provide a level of truth and accountability that many other declassification projects have failed to achieve. They will prove extremely valuable in Argentina's ongoing quest for justice, truth and dignity for the tens of thousands of human rights victims and their families. In a number of cases, these documents will provide those documents with the only evidence they have ever had on the fate of their plot. Like the tens of thousands of desaparecidos from the era of the military dictatorship, the Argentine archives on repression have also been desaparecidos, buried, burned, perhaps also thrown into the ocean. In so many cases, the US documents being turned over today to Argentina are our and will be the only evidence of the fate of so many Argentinians at the hands of the military dictatorship. I have personally experienced the intense warmth of the relatives of the disappeared when I shared previously declassified documents as part of a trial testimony in Argentina. I have heard and seen the gratitude from the children of the disappeared. From the appropriated children of the disappeared coming to me, who have held documents in their hands, documents that finally shed light on what happened to their parents, and what was their own reveal. Thank you, they tell me. The documents allow us to touch our loved ones. To all the fighters for the right to know here and in Argentina, I extend that sentiment to you. That, my friends, is the diplomacy of declassification. That is the ultimate meaning of declassification diplomacy in the name of human rights. Thank you. Powerful remark. I'd like to thank everyone for attending today's ceremony. The released records are available online now at intel.gov slash Argentina. You don't have to write that down. We have cards for everyone to take on the way out that have been addressed in the back. Some Google search will discover them for you. Again, thanks to the Office of the DNI for the hosting of the documents and the presentation. A little bit of housekeeping before we go. Keep in mind that all persons who take it very well, who depart the National Archives are subject to security procedures on exit. That's part of the protect and preserve. And we'd like to ask our senior government officials to remain here in the front of the room after this ceremony so that we can take some additional photographs. On behalf of the National Archives, executive branch agencies who participated in the project I'd like to thank everyone for attending. Good day.