711.00111 Armament Control/Military Secrets/540
The Secretary of State to the Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Sirs: I refer to my letter of January 13, 1937, and previous correspondence,19 in regard to your proposal to assist in the production of a submarine in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and have to inform you that I am now in receipt of a letter of March 320 from the Acting Secretary of the Navy,21 with further reference to this subject. The Acting Secretary of the Navy informs me that, as a result of correspondence and conference between the Navy Department and your Company, an agreement has been reached as to a procedure which should enable you to carry out your proposal without disclosing to foreign interests any military secrets of interest to the National Defense. He states that you have submitted to the Navy Department a plan showing the general arrangement and characteristics of the submarine for which you propose to furnish plans and specifications, and that you have also submitted general data in regard to details of the equipment. He states that you have agreed that any contract which you may enter into relating to the production of a submarine in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will specifically exclude:
- 1.
- The supplying of any information considered confidential by the Navy Department.
- 2.
- Purchase in the United States of any material or machinery for the construction of the submarine except from you.
- 3.
- The presence of representatives or agents of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in your plant or in the plant of any subcontractor to which access by foreigners is prohibited by or at the request of the Navy Department.
He states further that you have agreed to abide by such rules and regulations designed for the preservation of military secrets of interest to the National Defense as the Secretary of the Navy may find it necessary to prescribe from time to time to prevent inadvertent disclosure of confidential information.
[Page 464]The Acting Secretary of the Navy concludes that, in view of the agreement reached with your Company, the Navy Department has no objection, on the ground of military secrecy in its relation to the National Defense, to your proposal to assist in the production of a submarine in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Very truly yours,
Chief, Office of Arms and Munitions Control