600.0012/3–1654
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Officer in Charge of International Security Affairs in the Office of United Nations Political and Security Affairs (Bechhoefer)
- Subject:
- Paper Entitled “Outline of an International Atomic Energy Agency.”1
- Participants:
- Mr. Murphy, G
- Mr. Arneson, S/AE
- Mr. Bowie, S/P
- Mr. Merchant, EUR
- Mr. Wainhouse, UNA
- Mr. Bechhoefer, UNP
Mr. Arneson referred to the comments received from the British and French and Canadians on the original draft of the paper. The French had no substantial comments.
After some discussion it was agreed that the following changes would be made in the paper to meet constructive suggestions made by the British and the Canadians:
- 1.
- In accordance with suggestions made by the British, the final phrase of the preamble in paragraph I should be changed to read as follows: “from those member countries having stocks of such materials, to be used for the following objectives”.
- 2.
- In accordance with suggestions made by the Canadians, the following words would be added to paragraph I, a: “and to foster an exchange of information”.
- 3.
- In accordance with a suggestion made by the British, paragraph II, F would be amended by striking the final phrase “such as at the seat of the United Nations or Geneva.”
- 4.
- In order to meet the most important suggestion made by the
British, paragraph II G would be redrafted to read as follows:
“Relationship to the United Nations and Other International Bodies
The Agency should report to the United Nations Security Council or General Assembly when requested by either of these organs. The Agency should also consult and cooperate with other UN bodies whose work may be related to that of the Agency.”
It was agreed that it would not be advisable from the political standpoint at this time to accept the British suggestion that the Agency should accept contributions of uranium and thorium ores. This matter could be ironed out in later discussion.
[Page 1371]It was also agreed that it would be inadvisable to follow the Canadian suggestion for spelling out a more definite relationship of the proposed Agency to the United Nations on the theory that the Agency would be a Specialized Agency within the meaning of Chapter 9 and 10 of the Charter. While the Agency has some characteristics of a Specialized Agency, in other aspects it is quite different. The Canadian suggestion for spelling out more closely the relationship to the United Nations is the exact antithesis of the British suggestion which we have accepted for dealing with the matter less specifically than in the original draft.
It was agreed that we should suggest to the British that the proposed statement of the British Foreign Minister in Parliament set forth in the final paragraph of the British letter should not include the remark that it is merely for reasons of convenience that the United States will act as a “post-office” with the Russians. It was further agreed that we should inform the British that we would communicate these proposals in confidence to Portugal just before they are given to the Russians.
It was also agreed that at an appropriate time the proposals might be communicated to the North Atlantic Council. Mr. Arneson indicated that he and Mr. Wainhouse would talk to the British and Canadians about their suggestions and our reaction to them.
Mr. Bowie proposed to redraft the paper which could be transmitted to Ambassador Zarubin as soon as a clean copy was prepared.
Mr. Murphy suggested that the Secretary of Defense’s Office should be informed of the results of this meeting and referred in that connection to the request of the Secretary of Defense in a letter to Mr. Murphy of March 5,2 that the Department of Defense be included in all discussions and actions on this matter. Mr. Murphy indicated that an affirmative response should be made to this request and it was agreed that UNA carry out this responsibility through its’ regularly established channels.
Mr. Arneson suggested that the changes accepted in the meeting had the concurrence of the Atomic Energy Commission.