The declassification history has more than one date. A National Archives advisory dated November 17, 1997 announced that military records concerning Cuba policy would open the next morning. The materials came from Joint Chiefs and other military files, had been reviewed by the Assassination Records Review Board and would enter the JFK Collection. The contemporary notice describes roughly 1,500 pages, rather than claiming that a new operation had just been discovered in progress. [1]
In April 2001, the National Security Archive published a fuller Northwoods packet online. Its later document presentation explains that James Bamford obtained a copy and shared it with the Archive. His book Body of Secrets helped bring the proposal to a much larger audience. Release, research access, reproduction and mass publicity are different moments; compressing them into one date can make a genuine document appear to have only one discoverer or one public debut. [2][3]
The institutions are also different. The National Archives is the federal repository. The National Security Archive is a nongovernmental research organization based at George Washington University. Neither name means the National Security Agency. Recognizing which institution holds, releases or publishes a record makes the provenance easier to follow. Readers can compare the scan with the signed date rather than treating a recent social-media upload as evidence of a newly created or newly operational plan. [1][2][3]