BITS Databases

Databases & Archives:

Despite rapid developments in the field of document collections on the internet, searching for electronic primary sources is still time consuming. BITS offers a unique service providing four archives with information relevant to European security issues. These databases will be updated regularly. Documents are accessible with just a few mouse clicks.

Special Issues:

Here you will find our electronic archives on issues and developments which we have collected in the course of time due to their crucial political relevance. Here you will find the annual reports of the German government on arms trade since 1999, documents on the future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy as well as information on NATO's operation "Essential Harvest" in Macedonia. Additionally, the war against international terror and the war in Iraq can also be found here.

A M D - Archive of Military Doctrine:

This initial collection of joint doctrine publications contains both publications in force as well as doctrine now replaced or not yet approved. Some of these documents are no longer available on the web, others still can be found on official sites, such as the Joint Electronic Library of the U.S. DoD.

The C E S D - Policy Collection:

European integration has reached security and defense policies. Members of the European and the Western European Union decided to join efforts for non-military and military crisis-management operations. These efforts have been labeled Common European Security and Defense Policy. European discussions about collective defense are likely to follow. The CESD-Policy Collection of primary sources brings together the core documents and milestone decisions taken by the European Union member states.

E U R A - The EU-Russia Archive:

The European Union and the Russian Federation are finally developing a distinct strategic partnership. More than five years after the first EU-Russia Summit on the French island of Corsica, they have started to bring the idea of EU-Russia cooperation to life. Over the last two years Western European nations have acknowledged that they need Russia as their stable Eastern partner; while the Russian Federation found Western Europe to be the Kremlin’s second door to the West. Since then, the number of contacts and cooperative programs and projects has grown steadily. The EU-Russia Archive brings together the core documents of this process which are otherwise hard to find.

E N D - U.S. Nuclear Weapons Doctrine Relevant for Europe:

This collection of official nuclear weapons related doctrine publications contains both publications in force as well as publications replaced or not yet approved.

M A D – the Military Abbreviation’s Dictionary:

No idea what a CJTF-HQ is? Never heard of CINCSTRIKEFORSOUTH? Abbreviations and specialised military terms are often a major hurdle to really understanding military and security issues. Their authors seem to live in a different world. Even specialised readers know that there is a high risk of misunderstanding, or not understanding at all when it comes to acronyms and military abbreviations. MAD – the Military Abbreviation Dictionary is intended to help solve this problem. Compiled from military manuals, specialist literature and other official documents it provides a searchable database of more than 30.000 acronyms from the military, security and disarmament field. Check it out and find out what a CJTFHQ is or who CINCSTRIKEFORSOUTH is. The database will tell you what the acronym stands for and who uses it.

N S D - National Strategy Documents:

Core National Security Strategy Documents of the United States of America.

N R A - The NATO-Russia Archive

NATO-Russia relations are a core element of European security and any future cooperative European Security Architecture. They have a truly mixed historical record. The development of NATO-Russia relations – somewhere in between partnership, cooperation, consultations, conflicts and even confrontational behavior – is reflected in a wide range of documents and primary sources describing and reflecting these relations. The NATO-Russia Archive brings together a collection of core documents and documents, which would otherwise be widely dispersed. The NRA does not only gather official documents of the formal relations between NATO, Russia and Ukraine, but also covers a range of issues that impact this relationship, such as NATO Enlargement, European Security, Peacekeeping Operations, U.S.-Russia relations, Missile Defense, Nuclear Arms Control, Central Asia and the Caucasus.