The National Security Research Center is the classified library at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The NSRC traces its lineage to the technical library formed by J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project. We are part of the Lab's fascinating history. Today, the NSRC is one of the largest scientific / technical libraries in the federal government with collections that number in the tens of millions. It also houses unclassified collections, including photos, related to the people, events, and scientific achievements that make up our nation's nuclear history.

The NSRC is staffed by an expert, highly trained team of librarians, archivists, historians, and publications specialists, all of whom support researchers at Los Alamos and other National Nuclear Security Administration sites, as well as partners in the Department of Defense.

Brye Steeves is the director of the NSRC.

Looking for the NSRC internal page?

In late March 2025, the NSRC announced the release of the new documentary “Secrets in the Shadows: The Project Y Spies.” The film, produced by the NSRC and based on rare photos, documents, and footage from its unclassified legacy collections and interviews with historians and counterintelligence experts, tells the full story of Manhattan Project espionage with new insights on its relevance for the Lab’s national security mission today.  

Watch the documentary here: