General Ridgway has reached some interesting and significant conclusions on
Russian objectives which are set forth in the attached memorandum. I believe
you will find his memorandum of very considerable interest. I am furnishing
a copy of this letter to the Secretary of the Navy.1
[Enclosure]
Memorandum by the Representative of the United States
Army Chief of Staff on the United Nations Military Staff
Committee (Ridgway) to the Army Chief of
Staff (Eisenhower)2
top secret
New York, 3 February
1947.
1. Against the background of ten months continuous contact with Russian
Representatives to the United Nations, I am impressed with what appears
to me to be the emergence of a pattern of Russian objectives. The
opinions stated herein are for your information. They derive from my
evaluation of the facts of Russian action before the United Nations on
the subjects of Atomic Energy Control, Disarmament and the establishment
of United Nations armed forces under Article 43 of the Charter.
facts
2. a. Atomic Energy:
The USSR insists upon the conclusion of an international convention
designed to prohibit the employment of atomic energy for military
purposes and to accomplish the destruction of all existing atomic
weapons within a period of three months after the ratification of such
convention. Concurrently, the USSR has so far refused to accept the US
proposals for effective safeguards and for the collective imposition of
sanctions.
b. Disarmament:
The USSR introduced the disarmament resolution to the General Assembly
and presses for United Nations action thereon.
c. Establishment of United Nations Armed Forces under
Article 43 of the Charter:
The USSR Delegation in the Military Staff Committee has for ten months
obstructed and so far has effectively prevented, any substantial
progress towards the establishment of the armed forces to be made
available to the Security Council. Further, the Soviet Representatives
have recently emphasized their insistence that the contributions from
each of the Big Five shall be equal in overall strength and composition.
In other words each of the Big Five shall furnish equal air, ground, and
sea contingents.
evaluation
3. USSR Objectives:
At present, these facts indicate to me the existence of coordinated USSR
objectives embracing:
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-
a.
- Public agreement by the US to:
- (1)
- Prohibit the use of atomic weapons for military
purposes and destroy all existing atomic weapons.
- (2)
- Prohibit the use of all other weapons of mass
destruction, in which classification, the USSR may seek
to include such instruments of long range warfare as
strategic air forces, guided missiles, and certain naval
categories.
- (3)
- Ultimately reduce each Member’s armaments and armed
forces to the level of those to be made available by
that Member to the Security Council.
- (4)
- Establish United Nations armed forces, in which the
contribution of each of the Big Five shall be equal in
over-all strength and composition in their air, ground
and sea contingents.
-
b.
- Use of world public opinion and US national conscience to
compel the US to comply with its agreements on the above
subjects, while the USSR by equivocation and delay, evades the
establishment and operation of effective safeguards on atomic
energy and disarmament, and concurrently by intensive national
effort, develops and produces atomic and other weapons adaptable
to mass destruction.
conclusions
4. a. Well known USSR moral codes and conduct
indicate the following as capabilities with a high degree of
probability:
- (1)
- An attempt to secure United Nations approval of an
international convention outlawing the use of atomic energy for
military purposes and requiring early destruction of all
existing atomic and other weapons adaptable to mass destruction;
to keep this convention separate from any convention dealing
with safeguards; to avoid pushing the question of safeguards;
and ultimately, to refuse to accept, or if forced to accept, to
fail to comply with them. If these attempts succeed, we shall
have been deprived of atomic weapons at no cost to the USSR. In
that event, we can not ignore the possibility that the USSR
would continue its present great national effort to develop and
produce such weapons clandestinely.
- (2)
- An attempt to bring about a convention reducing world
armaments and armed forces to the level of those to be made
available to the United Nations under Article 43 of the
Charter.
- (3)
- An endeavor to secure United Nations approval of the principle
of equality in strength and composition of the air, sea and
ground contingents of the armed forces to be made available to
the Security Council by each of the Big Five. This would compel
us largely to renounce our modern complex armaments and would
vastly increase the relative value of man-power as a determining
factor in war.
- (4)
- A concurrent effort to infiltrate Soviet agents into our
industrial structure in such manner as to increase their
capability, at a time of Russia’s choosing, of paralyzing our
national systems of transportation, fuel and telecommunications,
for the purpose of preventing the timely restoration of our
ability to exploit our superior industrial potential.
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5. The foregoing actually amounts to an integrated plan to bring about
unilateral disarmament by the US under the guise of a plan for general
regulation and reduction of armaments by all nations; to strip us of our
present technological, managerial, and scientific superiority; and to
elevate the USSR to the position of the dominant military power in the
world.
6. No effort is made to fix a period of time within which attainment of
these objectives by Russia might be reasonably expected. However,
regardless of when attained, their attainment at any time under
currently existing world power relationships, would represent a grave
menace to US security and to the peace of the world.
M. B. Ridgway
Lieutenant General, U.S. Army
