Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, Central and Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume IV

S/S–NSC (Miscellaneous) Files: Lot 66 D 95: NSC Records of Action

Record of Actions by the National Security Council at its 66th Meeting, August 24, 1950

top secret

[Washington, August 24, 1950.]

Note: The President participated in the following Council actions

Action Number 347

Subject: Export Controls and Security Policy

(NSC 69/1;¹ NSC 69;² Memo for NSC from Executive Secretary, subject “Export of Steel Mill Equipment to Austria” dated June 7, 1950;³ Memo for NSC from Acting Executive Secretary, subject “Strategic Rating of Railroad Transportation Equipment” dated June 9, 1950;⁴ Memo for NSC from Executive Secretary, subject “East (Soviet Orbit)-West Trade” dated August 15, 1950;⁵ Memo for NSC from Executive Secretary, subject “Export Controls and Security Policy,” dated August 25, 1950.⁶)

a. Agreed that an effort should be made in connection with the forthcoming Foreign Ministers’ meeting to obtain agreement on an export control policy as close as possible to existing U.S. policy, subject to review at periodic intervals as the Western European defense program develops.

b. Agreed that efforts should also be made through the NATO Defense and Military Committees to reach agreement on a military viewpoint regarding export controls, as a means of influencing Western European nations to adopt policies similar to U.S. policies.

c. Agreed that exports of strategic items to a Western European country should be denied whenever that country ships identical items or equivalent amounts thereof to Eastern Europe.

d. Agreed that the export of steel mill equipment to Austria should be postponed pending receipt of information regarding the possible use of this equipment by U.S. steel companies.⁷

e. Agreed that the export of steel rails to Communist China should be denied.

Note: The above actions subsequently referred for implementation as follows; a to the Secretary of State, b to the Secretary of Defense, and c, d, and e to the Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary of Commerce and the Economic Cooperation Administrator participated with the Council and the Secretary of the Treasury in the above actions. In connection with c above, the Secretary of Commerce read a statement regarding the shipment of molybdenum from the United States to England, subsequently circulated by the reference memorandum of August 25 for the information of the Council.

[Here follows the record of Council actions on other topics taken up during the meeting of August 24.]

1. August 21, p. 163.
2. See the letter of April 25 from the Secretary of Commerce to the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council, p. 83.
3. See the memorandum of June 6 from the Secretary of Commerce to the National Security Council, p. 139.
4. See the memorandum of June 8 from the Secretary of Commerce to the National Security Council, p. 141.
5. See the memorandum of June 26 by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Secretary of Defense, p. 152.
6. According to a memorandum of September 1 by the Secretary of State, not printed, Secretary of Commerce Sawyer complained during the National Security Council meeting of August 24 that a quantity of molybdenum, an item on the American 1–A List of export controls, had been licensed for export to the United Kingdom in the spring of 1950 and subsequently had been resold and transshipped to the Soviet Union at the beginning of July. The memorandum under reference here, not printed, circulated to the National Security Council the text of a statement by the Secretary of Commerce at the Council’s August 24 meeting regarding the matter. A review of additional facts in the case, prepared by the Department of State for Secretary Acheson on September 6, not printed, pointed out that the export, resale, and transshipment of the molybdenum, which was not included on International List I until the end of July 1950, had been carried out entirely within current regulations and procedures (S/S–NSC Files, Lot 63 D 351, NSC 69 Series).
7. In a memorandum of August 28 to the Secretary of Commerce, not printed, copies of which were circulated to the National Security Council, Council Executive Secretary Lay explained that President Truman had that same day decided that the application for the export of steel mill equipment to Austria should be approved, since the possibility of the use of the equipment by a U.S. steel company had not materialized (S/S–NSC Files, Lot 63 D 351, NSC 69 Series).