(2012-0797-F) Presidential Review Directive 1 on Yugoslavia

The materials in FOIA 2012-0797-F are a selective body of documents responsive to the topic of the FOIA. Researchers should consult the archivist about related materials. This Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was for all records, including e-mail, related to Presidential Review Directives (PRD) or Presidential Decision Directives (PDD) corresponding to the former Yugoslavia or Bosnia and Herzegovina. Open records in this FOIA include documents previously declassified as part of the Central Intelligence Agency’s program “Bosnia, Intelligence, and the Clinton Presidency: The Role of Intelligence and Political Leadership in Ending the Bosnian War.” It also includes administrative paperwork such as profile sheets and tracking documents. It includes several publicly released United Nations Security Council decisions regarding the former Yugoslavia. As this collection deals largely with issues of foreign policy and national security a significant portion of the records are closed for reasons of national security. Communism collapsed in the late 1980s and the republics that made up Yugoslavia declared independence in the early 1990s. Slovenia and Croatia were first to declare independence in 1991 followed by Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Religious and political differences quickly led to war between Serbia and Croatia. This ethnic war spilled over the border into Bosnia which had long been the meeting place of very diverse populations. The Serbs, led by Slobodan Milosevic, fought to create a Greater Serbia united by their Serbian beliefs and cultures. In the summer of 1992 it became clear that Serb forces operated numerous detention facilities and were practicing large-scale massacre of Bosniak Muslims. During the 1992 campaign for President of the United States then Governor Clinton turned the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina into a critique of George H. W. Bush’s foreign policy. He claimed that Bush was not doing enough to stop the genocide and human rights abuses. Clinton called for lifting the arms embargo and for establishing a no-fly zone with the potential for air strikes as punitive measures. Immediately following his election President Clinton established the guidelines to study the issue of humanitarian aid and military role in the former Yugoslavia. Presidential Review Determination 1 (PRD/NSC-1) was signed on January 22, 1993. It was the only PRD or PDD directly related to the former Yugoslavia or Bosnia-Herzegovina.