Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Eastern Europe; Soviet Union; Eastern Mediterranean, Volume VIII

601.6111/2–752

No. 494
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Perkins) to the Secretary of State¹

confidential

[Washington,] February 7, 1952.

Subject:

• Regulation of Travel of Soviet Officials in the United States

In accordance with the discussion concerning the imposition of travel regulations on Soviet officials held at your Staff Meeting on January 31, this matter was referred for inter-departmental consideration by the Intelligence Advisory Committee. The IAC met February 7 and all interested agencies concurred in the proposal as submitted to them based on the results of the discussion at your Staff Meeting.² Attached is a paper explaining the proposal with Annex I containing a brief history of travel restrictions placed on United States and other foreign officials in the USSR and Annex II which contains the text of the note to be sent to the Soviet Embassy in Washington.³

Only one change has been made in the note as submitted to the IAC which has been done at the suggestion of the Department of Defense. This will require that in the case of Soviet military personnel, notification should be sent to the Department of Army, Navy or Air, as appropriate. Previously the note had stated that notification in the case of Soviet military personnel should be sent to the Department of Defense.

In accordance with your expressed desire at your Staff Meeting on January 31, the proposed action is now submitted to you for final approval.

If you approve this proposed action,⁴ we recommend that 48 hours in advance of the delivery of the note to the Soviet Embassy, we inform the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Executive Session of our intended action. Mr. Fisher with Mr. Barbour testifed before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on February 6 and found great interest on the part of the members of the Committee on the subject of travel restrictions.

We also recommend that simultaneously we inform the NATO Council of Deputies of our intended action. After the Staff meeting on January 31 our Deputy on the Council was instructed to inform his colleagues of our contemplated action. He was informed that our final action would not be dependent upon discussion or decision of the Council of Deputies. However, we believe it advisable to give the Deputies and thus to their governments at least 48 hours advance notice of our intended action.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that (1) you approve the imposition of travel regulations on Soviet officials in the United States in accordance with the proposal approved by IAC, and (2) you approve informing of our intended action members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Executive Session as well as the Council of Deputies 48 hours in advance of the delivery of our note to the Soviet Embassy.

[Attachment]

Paper Prepared in the Department of State⁵

Regulation of Travel of Soviet Officials in the United States

On January 15 the Soviet Government greatly increased its previous travel restrictions on American officials in the USSR. The history and nature of these restrictions, which have existed since 1941, are described in Annex I.⁶

The Department of State considers that the time has now come to regulate the travel of Soviet officials in the United States not on a security basis but solely on the basis of reciprocity in the treatment accorded to official representatives of each government by the receiving state. The suggested method of application of this regulation is set forth in a draft note to the Soviet Ambassador at Washington, which forms Annex II of this memorandum.⁷ Our regulation will apply only to Soviet official personnel assigned to the Embassy in Washington, to Soviet newspaper correspondents whose place of work is Washington and to Soviet personnel of Amtorg in New York.

Although the proposed regulation of the travel of Soviet personnel in the United States is less onerous than the restrictions applied to American officials in the USSR, the Department has drafted the proposed note with the purpose of maintaining a flexible position which would enable us to forbid a proposed journey by a Soviet official, if such were thought expedient in the light of Soviet restrictive practices on our official personnel in Moscow. Ambassador-designate Kennan has approved this proposed procedure and has expressed the desire to be given the authority, if the occasion arises after his arrival in the Soviet Union, to inform Soviet authorities that a relaxation in Soviet travel restrictions will be met by a relaxation in the regulation of travel placed by this Government on Soviet official personnel in Washington.

The Department has informed the United States Deputy on the NATO Council of Deputies in London of this proposed action and has instructed him to inform his colleagues of the measure being contemplated. He has been instructed to say that while a final United States Government position has not yet been reached, we would like to obtain from the other Deputies an expression of the views of their governments whether they intend to regulate the travel of Soviet official personnel in their respective countries. However, our final action will not be dependent upon any discussion or decision by the NATO Council of Deputies.

Secretary Acheson has approved of the procedure for regulating the travel of Soviet official personnel in the United States as outlined above. It is desired, however, to have the comments of other interested government agencies and their concurrence in the action finally taken.

1. Drafted by Davis (EUR/EE) and approved by Barbour (EE).

2. In a memorandum of Feb. 13 to Assistant Secretary Perkins, Special Assistant W. Park Armstrong quoted from the minutes of the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) meeting of Feb. 7 dealing with the question of the regulation of travel of Soviet officials. According to the quoted material, the IAC action-decision reads as follows:

   “The IAC concurred in the proposal for the regulation of travel of Soviet officials in the U.S. as proposed by the Department of State, it being understood that the Department of State is going to make arrangements with the FBI for notification of every proposed trip by Soviet officials.” (601.6111/2–1352)

3. Annexes I and II are not printed here. For texts of the note ultimately presented to the Soviet Embassy in Washington on Mar. 10 and the paper (Annex I) released to the press by the Department of State on the same day, see Department of State Bulletin, Mar. 24, 1952, p. 451.
4. Secretary Acheson took up the question of the regulation of travel of Soviet officials at his meeting with President Truman on Feb. 11; see the memorandum of conversation, infra.
5. Documentation in Department of State files indicates that an earlier draft of this paper was prepared in the Office of Eastern European Affairs and served as the basis for discussion at the Secretary of State’s daily staff meeting on Jan. 31, 1952, as requested by the Secretary.
6. Annex I is not printed here, but see footnote 3, above.
7. Annex II is not printed here, but see footnote 3, above.