601.6111/4–1050
Memorandum for the Files by the Director of the Office of Eastern European Affairs (Yost)
Assistant Secretary Perkins and I called today on Assistant Secretary of the Treasury John S. Graham to discuss the recent series of compaints which have been received from the Soviet Embassy in regard to the treatment of Soviet diplomatic couriers arriving in this country. We pointed out the extreme importance to our Embassy in Moscow of US couriers proceeding there being accorded satisfactory treatment and the extent to which the Soviet authorities were likely to go in retaliating against our couriers if any shortcomings in our treatment of their couriers here afforded them a pretext for so doing. We said that the Soviets are at present according satisfactory facilities, to our couriers but are doing this on a “reciprocal” basis. We urged therefore that the US customs authorities (1) endeavor to give Soviet couriers as expeditious treatment as possible upon their arrival in this country, particularly giving them priority over other non-official personnel, and (2) that the personal baggage of diplomatic couriers not be subject to inspection.
Mr. Graham read to us the reports received from the customs authorities in New York in regard to the cases in question which indicated that the delays had in fact been brief but did reveal that the personal baggage of the couriers is being examined. As to our first request, Mr. Graham said that it was standard customs procedure to give priority to diplomatic couriers and other foreign officials once their identity had been established but that the difficulty arose in estabishing their identity before they came before the customs authorities [Page 1140] in their normal turn. He urged that we make every effort to notify the Treasury in advance whenever a Soviet courier is expected and assured us that if they did have such advance notification they would see to it that he is given priority treatment. As to our second request, Mr. Graham indicated that the personal baggage of all diplomatic couriers is examined in at least a perfunctory fashion and that he did not think it would be desirable to discriminate in favor of Soviet couriers. While he did not commit himself definitely, he indicated that the Treasury might be willing to waive inspection of the baggage of all foreign diplomatic couriers if the State Department should so request. He felt, however, that we would wish to review this whole question before making a formal request along these lines.
We agreed to review these two related problems in the light of the considerations he had presented and communicate with him again in the near future.