Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume V

800.24/8–1549.

The Secretary of State to the Secretary of Commerce (Sawyer)¹

secret

[Washington,] September 19, 1949.

My Dear Mr. Secretary: I refer to your letter of August 15, 1949,² in which you have expressed concern over the rate at which Western European countries are adopting security controls over the export of strategic commodities to countries in the Soviet orbit. I appreciate greatly your frank and helpful statement of your views on this important problem.

With respect to the question of “1 A” controls there have been several developments which seem to justify the guarded optimism which, I believe, both Mr. Martin of this Department and Mr. McIntyre of your Department shared upon their return from Europe in July. Since that time, the French Government has proceeded to put IA controls into effect, and considerable progress has been made by the Benelux countries. There have been some special problems in connection with Germany, and it is my understanding that representatives of our respective Departments, of the Economic Cooperation Administration, and of the Department of the Army have been giving the German situation careful attention. We are confident that the arrangements in Germany will be satisfactory from the security standpoint. As you know, the situation of Sweden and Switzerland is an exception to the line of action followed by the other Western European countries.

The meeting of the Western European countries which took place in July was informal in nature, and we do not expect to receive an official report concerning its outcome. We have, however, received informal information from officials of several of the countries which participated. These reports indicated that the meeting resulted in renewed efforts by the Western European countries to impose the 1A controls in which we are interested.

It is my understanding that a program of action with respect to “1B” controls has now been approved by officers of your Department. This program has been set forth in a telegram to Ambassador Harriman, Torep 7496 of September 1, 1949.³ You will note that it includes a proposal on the transshipment problem, which was a subject of comment in your letter. A copy of the telegram is enclosed for your ready reference.

It has never been the view of the Department of State or of the Economic Cooperation Administration that the British should handle for us as an intermediary negotiations with other participating countries on the question of security export controls. Ambassador Harriman has carried out extensive negotiations directly with the European countries concerned in this problem, and he and his representatives have made a forceful and effective presentation of our position. We have felt however, and I believe that Ambassador Harriman shares this view, that British leadership in this field is of the utmost importance and has had a constructive effect by reinforcing and supporting our own bilateral discussions. It is our view that this approach will yield maximum results in attaining the objectives which we all seek.

It has come to my attention that in a recent revision of the Comprehensive Export Schedule, when the new Positive List was formulated, a number of 1A and 1B items were inadvertently omitted, which had the effect of freeing these items from control.⁴ I hope that prompt action to rectify this unfortunate occurrence is being taken. You will readily appreciate the negotiating difficulties which might occur if this omission were to become apparent to European countries.

I am confident that the officers of our respective Departments have established close working relationships in these matters, and that constructive results will accrue from such cooperation.

Sincerely yours,

Dean Acheson

1. Copies of this letter, which had been cleared informally in draft with the Economic Cooperation Administration and Ambassador Harriman, were also sent to Hoffman and Harriman.
2. Ante, p. 136.
3. Not printed.
4. In mid-August the Department of Commerce had published a new list of commodities requiring license for export from the United States. This “Positive List” of several hundred items included all those appearing on the 1–A and 1–B lists, although the existence of the lists was not mentioned in the published statement. The Positive List as of the beginning of 1949 is included as Appendix A to Export Control and Allocation Powers, Sixth Quarterly Report by the Secretary of Commerce to the President, the Senate, and the House of Representatives (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1949).