Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Western European Integration and Security, Canada, Volume VII, Part 1

278. Memorandum of Conversation⁰

April 14, 1958.

SUBJECT

• Civilian Control of North American Air Defense and Joint Ministerial Meetings on Defense Matters

PARTICIPANTS

• Sidney Smith, Secretary for External Affairs, Canada¹
• Ambassador Robertson, Canadian Embassy
• Jules Leger, Permanent Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
• The Secretary
• Frederick Jandrey, Deputy Assistant Secretary, EUR
• Marselis C. Parsons, Jr., Director, BNA

In the course of meeting with the Secretary at which several subjects were discussed, the Canadian Secretary of External Affairs said that he was very much interested in the conclusion of a governmental agreement to provide for the civilian control of North American air defense and that he hoped that the U.S. would be able to give a favorable answer to the proposals made in writing by the Canadian Government a few weeks ago² in order that a statement of agreement might be made when Parliament reconvened on May 8. He pointed out that there was no intention of the Canadian Government to table any of the military arrangements in connection with NORAD. He observed that the Conservative Party had been under heavy attack from the Liberals during the election campaign regarding the manner in which the NORAD agreement had been put through last August.

The Secretary informed Mr. Smith that the Department had sent the draft agreement to the Department of Defense and would urge the Pentagon to expedite its comments on the Canadian proposal.

Mr. Smith continued by referring to a Canadian proposal to establish machinery for periodic ministerial consultation concerning continental defense and said that this was a matter on which his government felt it must satisfy public opinion. In this connection he referred to the public interest in alerts, the carriage of nuclear weapons over Canadian territory, etc. He proposed that consultations be held between the respective Secretaries of Foreign Affairs and National Defense once a year.

The Secretary replied that this proposal was agreeable to the State Department but would of course, require the concurrence of the Secretary of Defense.³

0. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 742.59/4–1458. Secret. Drafted by Parsons.
1. Smith was in Washington for the Canadian Consular Conference. Memoranda of his discussions with Secretary Dulles on North Africa, Law of the Sea, and nuclear tests are ibid., Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 64 D 199.
2. On March 21, Ambassador Robertson discussed U.S.-Canadian defense matters with Elbrick and left a seven-point informal note outlining certain Canadian proposals concerning a joint Ministerial Committee on continental defense. A memorandum of the conversation and a copy of the note are ibid., Central Files, 742.5/3–2158.
3. On May 1, Robertson discussed the joint Ministerial Committee and the NORAD agreement with Under Secretary Murphy, who stated that the Department of State was awaiting Defense Department reaction to the former and hoped to conclude the latter by an exchange of notes on May 12. (Memorandum of conversation, May 1; ibid., 742.5/5–158) For the notes exchanged on May 12 at Washington establishing NORAD, see Department of State Bulletin, June 9, 1958, pp. 979–980.