Abstract
In summer 2026, VMI’s John A. Adams ’71 Center for Military History & Strategic Analysis is launching a new research tool on its public website (www.vmi.edu/adamscenter) aimed at making the National Archives and Records Administration’s vast, largely untapped holdings of Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) archival records more navigable, accessible, and usable. Powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) and utilizing semantic search and retrieval augmented generation, the tool moves far beyond the limited capabilities of traditional keyword search. It features a conversational research assistant that will connect researchers with OSD archival collections directly relevant to their particular interests, even though OSD records remain mostly unprocessed at NARA.
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Cite this article
Joel C. Christenson and Allen Mikaelian, “Ending Neglect of the SecDef: Using Artificial Intelligence to Create Pathways into OSD Archival Records,” The Journal of Military History 90, no. 3 (July 2026): 702–715.