Elliston cataloged information from recently-received documents on the Archive’s database, wrote FOIA requests and appeals, and edited the chronology of events that would accompany the published set. He studied the details of the Reagan and Bush administrations’ policies toward Iraq prior to the Gulf War. He also sorted documents relating to the CIA-sponsored overthrow of Guatemalan President Jacabo Arbenz in 1954, as well as assisting with other projects relating to U.S. relations with Latin America. Over time he became increasingly involved with the Archive’s Cuba Documentation project.
Current Activities: Elliston was awarded a John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation research grant in 2010 to support his work on a new book that will tell the story of the 1963 attack on Camp Summerlane in North Carolina. He previously worked as Managing Editor of the Asheville, NC Mountain Xpress. He is the editor of “Psywar on Cuba: The Declassified History of U.S. Anti-Castro Propaganda” (Ocean Press, 1999). He worked at NSA following his fellowship before entering graduate school.
…The Fellowship has been extremely valuable, and I can’t imagine a better way to get started in this line of work. The program provided me with options that would have taken years of graduate school, at the least, to otherwise develop. In addition, I’d be surprised if any graduate program succeeded in teaching me as much as I’ve learned in the last six months.