478. Memorandum of Conversation1
SUBJECT
- Nuclear Test Suspension Talks
PARTICIPANTS
- Sir Harold Caccia, British Ambassador
- The Viscount Hood, British Minister
- The Secretary
- Livingston T. Merchant, Asst. Secretary, EUR
During the course of a call on the Secretary on another matter, the British Ambassador inquired whether there was any new development which he should report to Selwyn Lloyd concerning the nuclear test suspension negotiations.
[Typeset Page 1688]The Secretary replied that he would like to run up a warning flag in connection with the underground tests. The Scientific Committee had met yesterday and reviewed recently developed technical information on the detection of underground tests. The report was very discouraging. It made clear, however, that more underground tests must be carried out in order to reach any firm conclusion as to the detection possibilities of any existent system. The Secretary said he had not yet had the opportunity himself of going over the report but that he would be discussing it in Geneva with Mr. Lloyd.
On the matter of high altitude testing, the Secretary said that the experts’ talks on this subject in Geneva seemed to be going well. He said his tentative conclusion was that it may be necessary to settle for an agreement limited to atmospheric tests while continuing negotiation on those underground. He said he had very much in mind the problem of securing approval by the Senate of any control system which had so low detection capability as to raise doubts as to its effectiveness even as a deterrant.
- Source: Nuclear test ban talks. Secret. 1 p. NARA, RG 59, Central Files, 700.5611/7–1059. Drafted on July 22.↩