The U.S. Federal Reserve on Friday unveiled some of its internal conversations from the darkest days of the financial crisis, releasing to the public transcripts of policy-setting meetings for the year 2008.

The U.S. central bank under then Chairman Ben Bernanke was caught off guard by the severity of the crisis triggered by the mortgage market, but quickly took a series of unprecedented steps to reinforce the crumbling financial system and limit damage to the U.S. and world economies.

The Fed, which is still dealing with fallout from the crisis and resulting 2007-2009 recession, typically releases transcripts of its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) after a five year lag.