861.111/8–1949: Circular airgram
The Secretary of State to Certain Diplomatic Offices 1
Recent travel restrictions on foreign officials in Rumania and Bulgaria2 raise question of retaliation such as was under consideration in Department at time reimposition of Soviet restrictions and imposition Bulgarian restrictions last fall but deferred because of apparent liberal Soviet administration of regulations.3 It is now considered desirable to secure views of missions where restrictions are in force.4 [Page 649] Please repeat replies to this airgram to other missions herein addressed.
For your information, following represents tentative proposed action last fall prior to decision to defer:
When Soviet travel restrictions were originally imposed May 16, 1941 (Moscow tel 2735, Nov. 265) Soviet Embassy informed by note June 7, 1941 that on basis of reciprocity this Government constrained to require officials and employees of Soviet Embassy not to travel outside District of Columbia and immediate vicinity without formal notification to and permission from Department. Vicinity was orally defined as radius of 100 miles. Similar requirement applied to Soviet consulates. Requests for authorization to travel were required to contain information concerning projected route, stopping places, duration and purpose of trip, as provided in Soviet regulations. These restrictions were cancelled July 23, 1941.
Department of Justice last fall informally advised that by a system of spot checks it should be able to exercise adequate control to make similar retaliatory measures substantially effective. The contemplated procedure would require officers and employees of the Soviet Embassy and Amtorg6 to carry permits approved by the Department when they travel outside a radius of 35 miles from Washington and New York respectively. Soviet employees of UN, members of Soviet delegations to UN, and Tass employees would be excluded. The intended practice was to govern policy on granting travel authorizations to accord with Soviet treatment of our requests, as to which the Embassy would be requested to keep the Department currently advised, with the exception of travel between New York and Washington which might be treated more liberally. It was proposed to follow the 1941 action in requiring prior authorization as well as notification since in practice the Soviet requirement of prior notification together with Soviet control of means of travel was considered tantamount to requiring authorization. The contemplated restrictions would not have involved creating any forbidden areas or forbidden highways leaving Washington or New York, which Department felt would open this Government to valid criticism as too literally following totalitarian procedures and not necessary to achieve such salutary effect as may be obtainable. A note to the above effect to the Soviet Embassy was to be made public with press release following delivery. Department proposed similar action concerning Bulgaria about a week later, [Page 650] omitting Minister Chargé who was not included in the Bulgarian restrictions.
- This airgram was sent to the Embassies in Moscow, Warsaw, Praha, and Belgrade; and to the Legations in Budapest, Sofia, and Bucharest.↩
- By a series of orders issued by the Bulgarian Government during 1949, the area along the Bulgarian frontier prohibited to travel by all diplomatic personnel (except chiefs of mission) was gradually extended. At the end of the year, one-third of Bulgarian territory was included in the prohibited area, Diplomatic personnel required special permission to travel elsewhere in Bulgaria. With regard to the imposition of travel limitations by Bulgaria on November 6, 1948, see the editorial note, Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. iv, p. 387. Diplomatic personnel in Romania required special advance permission to travel in a restricted zone embracing two-thirds of the country. Documentation on travel restrictions imposed by Bulgaria and Romania is included in Department of State files numbered 874.111 and 871.111, respectively.↩
- For the reimposition of travel restrictions in the Soviet Union by the note of September 30, 1948, the consideration of the effects of the restrictions upon the travels of Embassy personnel, and the decision for the time being not to resort to retaliatory restrictions against the Soviet Union, see ibid., vol. iv, pp. 921–937, passim.↩
- Among replies to this airgram the Minister in Bulgaria, Donald R. Heath, reminded in telegram 682 from Sofia on August 16, 1949, that the Western states were not usually in a strong position to engage in reprisals against a satellite diplomatic mission because these generally ranged between one-third to one-tenth the size of the United States and British missions located in the satellite countries. He regarded it as possible that “mere notice to Soviet Government that Western states would apply counter restrictions might result in some relaxation of restrictions in Soviet Union and in satellite area.” He concluded that whatever outcries the Soviet Union might make against reprisal restrictions “would only serve to focus public attention on the unjustified, unpeaceful and persecutive treatment of foreign representatives in the professedly peace loving and free Soviet Union and the area under its rule.” (701.6100/8–1649) Ambassador Joseph E. Jacobs reported in A–633 from Praha on August 29 that no restrictions were so far imposed upon “free movement within Czechoslovakia of personnel of Emb[assy] and Consulate General at Bratislava” but he did favor “retaliatory practices in Washington against representatives of USSR and satellite states” which interfered with the movements of American officials within their borders. (861.111/8–2949) From Poland the Chargé Cecil B. Lyon explained in A–1106 from Warsaw on September 7 that “no formal restrictions have as yet been imposed in Poland on the travel of American personnel,” and he hoped that it would not be necessary to apply any limitations in the United States “to Polish official personnel unless or until greater restrictions are enforced here.” (861.111/9–749) Similar views were mentioned in A–711 by the Legation in Hungary on September 22, where no formal restrictions had been imposed on the movements of foreigners and, except for a few isolated instances, with no particular discrimination against Americans. (861.111/10–2249)↩
- Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. iv, p. 934. The Soviet Union originally imposed travel restrictions by a note of May 16, 1941; ibid., 1941, vol. i, pp. 881–882. Reciprocity was then ordered by the United States in the note of June 7; ibid., pp. 883–884. Regarding the withdrawal of these limitations by the United States upon the German invasion of the Soviet Union, see the note of July 23; ibid., p. 902. For additional details, see the Index, ibid., p. 1043. The Soviet Union did not formally withdraw its own limitations, but they were allowed to lapse until the present reinstitution.↩
- The Amtorg Trading Corporation, New York, N.Y., was the official purchasing and sales agency in the United States of the Soviet Union.↩