Correspondence, memoranda, speeches and writings, logbooks, subject files, scrapbooks, printed material, photographs, and other papers pertaining primarily to Odom's service as military assistant to the assistant to the president for national security affairs, Zbigniew K. Brzezinski (1977-1981); as U.S. Army assistant chief of staff for intelligence (1981-1985); and as director of the National Security Agency (1985-1988).

Includes his notes from meetings of the National Security Council (NSC) and the NSC Special Coordination Committee concerning arms control policy and the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II; government operations during military and other crises; hijackings, terrorism, and the Iran Hostage Crisis; relations between the U.S. and the Middle East; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; U.S. and Soviet foreign relations and related strategic defense policy; and other issues pertaining to national security. Also includes material pertaining to Odom's role in smuggling Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenit︠s︡yn's papers out of the Soviet Union, several letters from Solzhenit︠s︡yn to Odom, and photocopies of Solzhenit︠s︡yn's passports, medals, and personal documents. Other subjects include the administration of President Jimmy Carter; defense policy and the writings of Samuel P. Huntington on strategic relationships; education of military officers in the U.S.; training in intelligence-gathering methods and the role of intelligence in the armed forces and international affairs; military strategy; structure of the U.S. military; and Soviet military personnel and organization. Correspondents include Anne Legendre Armstrong, Zbigniew K. Brzezinski, George Frost Kennan, Eugene C. Meyer, Edward L. Rowny, John W. Warner, and John Adams Wickham.