Expand All Collapse All Extent 53 folders, approximately 4,828 pages Summary This collection consists of records related to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and the war in Kosovo. Deputy Secretary Talbott was one of the Clinton Administration’s main negotiators for policy matters related to Russia, particularly their differences over the best way to respond to the worsening situation in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999. The records in this collection include emails and National Security Council cables that reference the Deputy Secretary and his involvement in Kosovo matters. The materials contain press transcripts, news clippings, official statements, policy discussions, and planning materials for meetings. Scope and Content Note The materials in FOIA 2019-0054-F are a selective body of documents responsive to the topic of the FOIA. Researchers should consult the archivist about related material. This collection contains records related to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and the war in Kosovo. A Rhodes Scholar and friend of President Clinton, Deputy Secretary Talbott was appointed Ambassador-at-Large and Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for the Newly Independent States in 1993 to help the State Department address the breakup of the Soviet Union. The following year, he was promoted to Deputy Secretary of State. In this role, he was one of the administration’s main negotiators for policies related to Russia. This was particularly true as Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic increasingly pursued ethnically motived violence against the Albanians in the region of Kosovo. As the United States and its NATO allies weighed the way to respond to the worsening situation in 1998 and 1999, Deputy Secretary Talbott negotiated with the Russian government, which did not fully agree with NATO’s views on the matter. His involvement continued throughout the NATO-led airstrikes in the spring of 1999. That summer, after the end of the bombing campaign, Deputy Secretary Talbott was also involved in the discussions regarding Russian participation in peacekeeping through the Kosovo Force (KFOR). At the end of the Clinton Administration in 2001, he briefly served as Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization before leading the Brookings Institution from 2002 to 2017. The records responsive to this request consist of printed Automated Records Management System (ARMS) Emails, Tape Restoration Project (TRP) Emails, NSC Cables, and NSC Emails from March 1998 through June 1999 that reference Deputy Secretary Talbott and his involvement in matters related to Kosovo. The ARMS and TRP Emails primarily contain press transcripts and news clippings. The NSC Cables mostly originate with the State Department and shed light on the ongoing discussions concerning Kosovo within NATO, as well as with Eastern European countries. The NSC Emails contain a mixture of press guidance, official statements, policy discussions, and planning for Principals Committee and Deputies Committee meetings. For a more extensive body of materials related to Kosovo, see 2008-0994-F Segment 3. Many of the records related to this FOIA case are closed for national security reasons. Record Type Textual System of Arrangement Records that are responsive to this FOIA request were found in these collection areas— Clinton Presidential Records: ARMS Emails, Clinton Presidential Records: TRP Emails, and Clinton Presidential Records: NSC Cable, Email, and Records Management Systems. The Automated Records Management System (ARMS) was a database that contained email records of the Executive Office of the President. This system held, and allowed access to, unclassified Presidential email. The ARMS database was comprised of seven sub-series of email records called "buckets." The buckets generally represented a specific White House office. The buckets were titled: NPR for National Performance Review, NSC for National Security Council, OPD for Office of Policy Development, POTUS for President of the United States, WHO for White House Office, CEA for Council of Economic Advisers, and Default for emails not associated with an office. The Tape Restoration Project (TRP) was a database consisting of restored emails from the Automated Records Management System (ARMS) from July 1994 through June of 2000. The TRP was a database that contained email records of the Executive Office of the President. This system maintained unclassified Presidential record email. The TRP database was comprised of the same seven sub-series of email as in ARMS. NSC TRP email are arranged by topic, there-under by bucket, and there-under chronologically by creation date. In 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration transferred the majority of Clinton ARMS and TRP records to a records management and access system called ERA. This changed the processing of ARMS and TRP records. For technical reasons, however, NSC emails remained in their own bucket. NSC ARMS emails are arranged by topic, there-under by bucket, and there-under chronologically by creation date. Access Collection is open to all researchers. Access to Clinton Presidential Records is governed by the Presidential Records Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. Chapter 22, as amended) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552, as amended) and therefore records may be restricted in whole or in part in accordance with legal exemptions. Copyright Documents in this collection that were prepared by officials of the United States government as part of their official duties are in the public domain. Researchers are advised to consult the copyright law of the United States (17 U.S.C. Chapter 1) which governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Provenance Official records of William Jefferson Clinton’s presidency are housed at the Clinton Presidential Library and administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) under the provisions of the Presidential Records Act (PRA). Subject Headings Talbott, Strobe Kosovo (Republic) Former Yugoslav republics Processed by Staff Archivist, 2025. Previously restricted materials are added as they are released. Last Modified Date 2025-11-20 Container List The following is a list of documents and folders processed in response to FOIA 2019-0054-F: Box 1 Clinton Presidential Records: Automated Records Management System [Email] NSC [OA/ID 1200000] [Talbott and Kosovo] [04/20/1998 – 04/08/1999] [04/09/1999 – 04/28/1999] [04/29/1999 – 04/30/1999] [05/14/1999 – 05/21/1999] [05/21/1999 – 05/24/1999] [05/26/1999 – 06/10/1999] [06/11/1999 – 06/15/1999] Box 2 [06/15/1999 – 06/16/1999] Clinton Presidential Records: Tape Restoration Project (TRP) [Email] NSC [OA/ID 1200000] [Talbott and Kosovo] [05/07/1999 – 06/10/1999] Clinton Presidential Records: NSC Cable, Email, and Records Management System NSC Cables Jan 1997-Dec 1998 [OA/ID 520000] [Talbott and Kosovo] [03/05/1998 – 03/26/1998] [04/10/1998 – 04/20/1998] [04/21/1998 – 04/24/1998] [04/27/1998 – 04/30/1998] [05/04/1998 – 05/30/1998] [06/02/1998 – 06/30/1998] [07/01/1998 – 12/23/1998] Box 3 Jan 1999-Dec 2000 [OA/ID 530000] [Talbott and Kosovo] [01/08/1999 – 02/27/1999] [03/02/1999 – 03/24/1999] [04/01/1999 – 04/12/1999] [04/13/1999 – 04/26/1999] [04/27/1999 – 05/05/1999] NSC Email Exchange-Record (Sept 97-Jan 01) [OA/ID 620000] [Strobe and Kosovo] [03/02/1998 – 11/20/1998] [01/20/1999 – 02/25/1999] [03/01/1999 – 03/31/1999] Box 4 NSC Email Exchange-Record (Sept 97-Jan 01) [OA/ID 620000] [Strobe and Kosovo] [04/01/1999 – 04/28/1999] [05/01/1999 – 05/17/1999] [05/18/1999 – 05/26/1999] [06/03/1999 – 06/15/1999] [Talbott and Kosovo] [03/09/1998 – 08/31/1998] [09/01/1998 – 09/27/1998] [10/01/1998 – 10/08/1998] [10/11/1998 – 11/12/1998] Box 5 [01/18/1999 – 03/29/1999] [03/30/1999 – 03/31/1999] [04/01/1999 – 04/14/1999] [04/15/1999 – 04/30/1999] [05/03/1999 – 05/09/1999] [05/10/1999 – 05/19/1999] [05/20/1999 – 05/24/1999] [05/25/1999 – 05/26/1999] Box 6 [05/26/1999] [05/27/1999 – 06/03/1999] [06/04/1999 – 06/09/1999] [06/10/1999 – 06/14/1999] [06/16/1999 – 06/24/1999] [06/24/1999 – 06/25/1999] [06/25/1999 – 06/29/1999] Box 7 Exchange-Non-Record (Mar 97-Jan 01) [OA/ID 630000] [Strobe and Kosovo] [03/10/1998 – 03/24/1999] [04/01/1999 – 06/10/1999] [Talbott and Kosovo] [03/09/1998 – 09/30/1998] [10/02/1998 – 02/22/1999] [03/25/1999 – 05/28/1999] [06/01/1999 – 06/25/1999]