384. Memorandum of Conference with the President1
OTHERS PRESENT
- Dr. Killian
- General Goodpaster
Dr. Killian first showed the President draft minutes of the first meeting of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. The President indicated they were satisfactory to him.
Dr. Killian next said that Dr. Glennan will shortly be bringing up the question of the future status of ABMA. With the establishment of NASA, the Redstone group will not have a full mission in the future on military projects. The President said that the proposal to shift ABMA to NASA would seem to be reasonable to him; he anticipated that there would be opposition from the Army, however. Dr. Killian agreed, but said he and his group thought the shift would be a good one. Some provision would have to be made for continuation of Army work by ABMA.
The President said he would like to see a central agency heading up the whole scientific missile operation. He thought the transfer could be made with a “charter” to the Army permitting the Army to keep certain facilities, and have the right to the performance of certain activities when it needs them. The main function of the group would be in the “space” field, but with such a charter provision, since the Army has need for certain applications of the more basic research activity. He said [Typeset Page 1454] he would like to see the Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of his subordinates, come up with a recommendation. To do this a combined study would be needed, and the Army should be given an opportunity to state its case.
Dr. Killian referred briefly to the Atoms for Peace meeting in Geneva. He said the U.S. performance and exhibit were first rate. He mentioned that the Russians had top-flight scientists present, who went out of their way to be cordial. He mentioned that their top scientist, [Facsimile Page 2] named Topchev, invited him to visit Russia next spring. He said he has replied that he does not see his way clear to doing so because of his schedule; he commented that in the present state of difficulties with the Soviet Union such a visit does not seem advisable. The President said he thought that if Dr. Killian had a chance to go, and if relations with the Russians improved, such a trip would be a good thing to do.
Dr. Killian said that the study group is having a very hard time on the Surprise Attack project. It is very difficult to get prepared for the discussions. One key question is as to the scope of the project, i.e., as to what should be monitored, and specifically as to whether limitation of arms and control of size of forces should be among the things being monitored. The President thought the first step is to determine what are the fields or areas wherein by certain actions we could limit or eliminate the danger of surprise attack. Then, what are the means of doing this, i.e., through observation or inspection; then what programs should be carried out to establish these means; then finally in what areas or in what respects could these measures be expected to be effective. Dr. Killian concluded by saying that the President may have to decide, before the matter is resolved, as to whether to include limitation of arms and inspection of such limitation in the Surprise Attack proposal.
Brigadier General, USA
- Source: ABMA move to NASA, Geneva Conference on Atoms for Peace, surprise attack study. Secret. 2 pp. Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, DDE Diaries.↩