Operation Paperclip Declassified Documents: Where to Find Them and What They Show

Short answer: Operation Paperclip declassified documents are public, but scattered. The core files are the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA) records at the National Archives and the CIA's "Project PAPERCLIP" release under the 1998 Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act. Together they confirm that the U.S. brought in more than 1,500 German and other foreign scientists after World War II, including some with documented ties to Nazi crimes. Here is where to look and how to read them.

What Paperclip was

As Germany fell in 1945, U.S. military intelligence raced the Soviets for German rocket, aviation, chemical and medical expertise. The program was first code-named Overcast, then Paperclip. According to the National Archives, the JIOA, a subcommittee of the Joint Chiefs' intelligence committee set up in 1945, ran it: compiling dossiers, setting policy and liaising with British intelligence. The JIOA was disbanded in 1962.

The most famous recruit was rocket engineer Wernher von Braun, whose team built the V-2 in Germany and later the Saturn V that took Apollo astronauts to the Moon.

Where the Operation Paperclip declassified documents are

1. National Archives, Record Group 330

The National Archives' guide to Secretary of Defense records describes "Foreign Scientist Case Files 1945-1958," 186 boxes of "personnel dossiers on over 1,500 German and other foreign scientists, technicians, and engineers." These are paper records at College Park, Maryland; you request boxes in person or hire a researcher. The same guide notes von Braun's dossier "was never transferred" to the Archives.

2. CIA reading room

The CIA reading room has a "Project PAPERCLIP" set of numbered PDFs in its Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act collection, mirrored on the Internet Archive. Many are operational cables about recruiting or managing German specialists. Searching "Paperclip" also returns press clippings and radio transcripts the CIA collected, which are not program records; check the document type before quoting one.

3. The Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act releases

The 1998 law created the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group (IWG), which declassified millions of pages across agencies and issued final reports to Congress in 2007.

What the files show about war crimes

The National Archives' own finding aid names three telling cases:

• Georg Rickhey, an official at the Nordhausen underground V-2 factory, arrived in 1946 and left in 1947 after a U.S. military tribunal tried him for war crimes. He was acquitted.
• Walter Schreiber, described as "instrumental in medical experiments on concentration camp inmates," fled to Argentina in 1952 after a newspaper column about him.
• Arthur Rudolph, a V-2 engineer, left the U.S. in 1984 after the Justice Department's discovery of his role in persecuting prisoners at Nordhausen. Rudolph had managed Saturn V production.

Nordhausen's Mittelwerk factory used slave labor from the Mittelbau-Dora camp, where thousands of prisoners died.

Documented, inferred, or unproven?

Documented: a U.S. military program recruited German scientists; some had Nazi Party or SS ties or links to slave labor and human experiments; some later left the U.S. after investigations.

Reasonable inference: officials played down Nazi records to get specialists cleared. Journalist Linda Hunt's 1991 book Secret Agenda and Annie Jacobsen's 2014 Operation Paperclip document this from FOIA files.

Unproven: claims that Paperclip scientists secretly ran MKUltra or that Paperclip "never ended." Some German specialists did work on U.S. chemical and medical research, but the records we reviewed do not show a direct chain of command into MKUltra.

Our view (opinion)

Paperclip is a hard case: it helped win the space race, and it rewarded people tied to slave labor. The documents let readers judge that trade-off without either myth. For related record-versus-rumor work, see the Northwoods documents and MKUltra.

How to search the files efficiently

1. Start with names. The RG 330 case files are organized by individual. Use names from books or the National Archives guide, then request the box.
2. Use the CIA reading room's collection filter. Limit results to the "Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act" collection to avoid newspaper clippings filed under Paperclip.
3. Check the IWG reports. The working group's 2007 report to Congress summarizes what each agency released and points to record groups.
4. File a FOIA request for anything still missing. Name the person, the agency and the date range.

Expect redactions and gaps. Some military intelligence files were destroyed or never transferred, and von Braun's own dossier is not at the Archives. A missing file is a research problem, not proof of a cover-up, though it is fair to ask agencies why.

Sources

• National Archives, "Records of the Secretary of Defense (RG 330)," IWG declassified records guide: archives.gov
• CIA Reading Room, Project PAPERCLIP file, Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act collection: cia.gov
• Internet Archive mirror, "Project PAPERCLIP": archive.org
• Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act, Public Law 105-246 (1998).
• Linda Hunt, Secret Agenda (St. Martin's, 1991); Annie Jacobsen, Operation Paperclip (Little, Brown, 2014).

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find Operation Paperclip declassified documents?

The main sources are the National Archives' Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency records in Record Group 330, including foreign scientist case files, and the CIA reading room's Project PAPERCLIP files released under the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act.

How many scientists came to the U.S. under Paperclip?

The National Archives says its case files cover over 1,500 German and other foreign scientists, technicians and engineers brought in under Paperclip and similar programs.

Is Wernher von Braun's Paperclip file at the National Archives?

No. The National Archives notes his dossier was never transferred to it.

Did Operation Paperclip bring war criminals to America?

Some participants had documented links to atrocities. Arthur Rudolph left the U.S. in 1984 after a Justice Department investigation into his role at the Nordhausen V-2 factory, and Walter Schreiber left in 1952 after press reports about camp medical experiments.

When were the Paperclip records declassified?

Many came out in the 1980s and 1990s, and a large release followed the 1998 Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act, which created an interagency group to declassify records on Nazi war crimes.