Office of the Historian

132. Letter From the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (Strauss) to the President1

Washington, April 10, 1956.

Dear Mr. President: This is for your information.

You have expressed your interest on a number of occasions that we should make progress toward giving necessary atomic weapon information to NATO to make cooperation more effective.

Twelve days ago (March 29th) the Agreement for Cooperation regarding the transmission of atomic information between the United States and NATO became effective.2 An Annex to this Agreement permits appropriate NATO authorities access to certain Restricted Data.3 The Atomic Energy Act requires a joint determination by the Department of Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission that the data transmitted will not reveal important information concerning the design or fabrication of the nuclear components of weapons.

We have made such a joint determination as to the transmissibility of a considerable list of items. They include information to SACEUR and SACLANT as to the numbers of atomic weapons to be made available in their support and the pertinent characteristics of those weapons, weapons safety measures, weapons delivery systems, etc.

These matters are, of course, separate from those concerning transmission of information to the United Kingdom and Canada in connection with our agreements with those countries, which are somewhat more inclusive.4

Respectfully yours,

Lewis Strauss
  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Administration Series, AEC. Confidential. The President initialed the source text.↩
  2. For the draft agreement for cooperation between the United States and NATO signed in Paris on June 22, 1955, see Department of State Bulletin, April 25, 1955, pp. 687–689. Regarding the entering into force of this agreement on March 29, 1956, with the completion of notification by all NATO governments that they were bound by the terms of the agreement, see Ibid., April 23, 1956, p. 668.↩
  3. The secret Annex to the NATO agreement for cooperation is an enclosure to Strauss’ March 3, 1955, letter to the President; see Document 11. The Annex is not printed.↩
  4. The agreements with the United Kingdom and Canada are not printed.↩