711.00111 Armament Control/Military Secrets/1525
The Secretary of State to the Chargé of the Soviet Union ( Umansky )
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and refers to his conversation on January 5, 1939,72 with an Assistant Chief of the Division of European Affairs73 in regard to the desire of the Soviet Government to obtain blueprints, specifications and photographs of certain machinery employed by the United States Army Engineer Corps in the construction of the Fort Peck and Sardis dams, and in regard to the manufacture by the General Electric Company of exhaust driven turbo superchargers for the Amtorg Trading Corporation.
Mr. Hull takes pleasure in transmitting herewith drawings, photo-stats and specifications of the machinery used in the construction of the Fort Peck and Sardis dams, together with information pamphlets on the two projects.74 This material was received with a letter of February 14, 1939,75 from the Secretary of War,76 in which he states that this machinery has been developed from time to time during [Page 872] the life of the project and that complete specifications and drawings of every detail in the equipment as it now exists are not available. Mr. Hull trusts that the material transmitted herewith will be of value to the Soviet Government.
With regard to the manufacture by the General Electric Company of turbo superchargers, Mr. Hull is in receipt of a letter of February 6, 1939,77 from the Acting Secretary of the Navy,78 in which he states that both the Navy and War Departments object, on the ground of military secrecy in its relation to the national defense, to the acceptance by the General Electric Company of any order from a foreign source involving the development and manufacture of an exhaust driven turbo supercharger for use on an internal combustion engine. The Acting Secretary of the Navy adds that the Navy and War Departments also object, on the ground stated, to the release of any information by the General Electric Company concerning matters pertaining to turbo supercharger development or construction.