Peter Kornbluh

Kornbluh grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he graduated from Pioneer High School in 1974.[2] He received a B.A. from Brandeis University in 1978.[3] He has worked at the National Security Archive since 1986.[4]

He played a large role in the campaign to declassify government documents, via the Freedom of Information Act, relating to the history of the U.S. government's support for the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile.[5] He is the author of several books, most recently The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability (The New Press, 2003). Kenneth Maxwell wrote a review in the November/December 2003 issue of Foreign Affairs, creating a controversy about Henry Kissinger's involvement in Operation Condor.[6] Kornbluh won a 1990 James Aronson Award honorable mention for writing on Central America in The New Yorker.[7]

In December 2014, Kornbluh testified for five hours before the tribunal of the historical “Plan Condor” trial in Buenos Aires Argentina.[8][9] Based on the research outlined in his book (The Pinochet File), Kornbluh described the structure of the Chilean National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), its leading role in organizing Operation Condor, and the assassination of exiled Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier in Washington DC in 1976.[10] In May 2016, the verdict of the tribunal, the "Tribunal Oral Federal N°1," declared 15 convictions directly related to the forced disappearance of 106 victims.[11]

In October 2017, Kornbluh was honored with the "Order of Bernardo O'Higgins" in recognition of his significant contributions to Chilean society. The award, bestowed by the Chilean government, was presented by Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdes who commended Kornbluh's exemplary leadership and enduring commitment to the declassification of secret documents pertaining to the coup and the regime led by General Augusto Pinochet. The ambassador acknowledged Kornbluh's instrumental role in spearheading efforts spanning several decades.[12][13]

• 1987. Nicaragua: The Price of Intervention (Institute for Policy Studies)
• 1989. The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability (New York: The New Press)
• 1989. (with Michael T. Klare). Low Intensity Warfare: How the USA Fights Wars Without Declaring Them (Methuen Publishing Ltd ISBN 0-413-61590-1)
• 1992. (with Lawrence Chang). The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 (The New Press, ISBN 1565840194)
• 1993. (with Malcolm Byrne). The Iran-Contra Scandal: The Declassified History (The New Press, 1993 ISBN 978-1-56584-047-8)
• 1998. (with James G. Blight). Politics of Illusion : The Bay of Pigs Invasion Reexamined (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner publishers)
• 1998. Bay of Pigs Declassified: The Secret CIA Report on the Invasion of Cuba (The New Press. ISBN 1-56584-494-7)
• 2003. The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability (The New Press).
• 2013. (revised and updated). The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability (The New Press. ISBN 1595589120)
• 2013. (with translator David León) Pinochet: Los Archivos Secretos (Editorial Crítica. ISBN 8498925878)
• 2014. (with William M. LeoGrande). Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana (University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1469626604)

• Biography and articles in The Nation
• "Still Hidden: A Full Record Of What the U.S. Did in Chile", The Washington Post, October 24, 1999
• Appearances on C-SPAN