65. Paper, November 21
THE FOSTER PANEL PLAN FOR GENERAL AND COMPLETE DISARMAMENT
1. The so-called “Foster Plan” for disarmament, now in its 9th revision and under consideration by the JCS, differs substantially from the US plan submitted to the United Nations. It is based on two principles, neither of which is inherent in the present approved US plan.
a. Immediate progress is necessary in the reduction and control of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles, and
b. The degree of inspection will be equitably related to the amount of disarmament achieved through a zonal area inspection system.
2. Instead of the three stages in the currently approved US plan, the Foster Plan has six.
a. Stage A. This stage will involve only the US and USSR. At the outset of negotiations, and during each subsequent month for one year, or until Stage B goes into effect, both the US and USSR will deposit with the United Nations 30 medium jet bombers to be destroyed. If negotiations continue beyond one year, the rate will be 15 per month for the second year; at the end of the second year destruction will be discontinued. If agreement on Stage B is not reached by 1 January 1964, the above provisions would be subject to modification or withdrawal (this caveat holds for all stages.)
b. Stage B. The measures in this stage will apply to all members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. It will last two years and will include both disarmament and inspection measures. During this stage (1) the strategic forces (missiles with more than some 200 mile range and aircraft of more than about 33,000 lbs. empty weight) of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, each will be reduced to 1000 vehicles; (2) the location and characteristics of all AICBMs will be declared and such system will be deployed only by agreement; (3) production of a new strategic vehicle will be accompanied by the destruction of an old one; (4) production of fissionable materials for military uses will stop.
Before Stage B begins all NATO and Warsaw Pact countries will divide themselves into 12 zones, and will declare by zone the number by type and model [Typeset Page 187] of strategic delivery vehicles, the location of key production facilities for vehicles and fissionable materials, the number of strategic delivery vehicles aboard ships including submarines, and the location and capabilities of airfields and ports. [Facsimile Page 2] Inspectors of one side will be stationed at each key production facility of the other side, in all zones, with access to production records. Each side will also be allowed to station inspectors temporarily at all airfields and ports, etc., until inspection gets underway. NATO will choose a zone in each Warsaw Pact country, and the Warsaw Pact a zone in each NATO country. After a zone is selected the host country will identify the location, etc., of strategic vehicles and facilities in the zone. After a zone is selected, no strategic vehicles will be shifted until after the initial inspection; thereafter shifts will be permitted on adequate notice. Each side will be allowed to station inspectors at all key points within the zones chosen, with complete and unimpeded access in the zone. Zones once selected will remain subject to mobile and aerial inspection at any time. After eight months, one more zone in each country will be selected; the process will be repeated once more after 16 months.
c. Stage C. Stage C also will last two years and will extend the scope of participation from NATO-Warsaw Pact to Allies of the US and USSR, worldwide. Strategic vehicles will be reduced to 500 each. Mass destruction weapons in space will be prohibited. Nuclear technology will not be passed to countries not now possessing such technology; all states will sign a nuclear test ban agreement.
In this stage quotas will be placed on other weapons, to include tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles with ranges of 35 to 200 miles, artillery and mortars exceeding 100 mm in caliber, combat aircraft greater than 5500 lbs., naval vessels of more than 500 tons. Quotas in each category will be determined by negotiation. During the two years military forces on each side of the types covered by this provision will be reduced on the order of at least 25%. Production of new weapons in all categories would be limited to a one for one replacement, with advance notification given. Any AICBM systems will be deployed only by agreement. Three more zones in each country would be inspected. Finally, each side would have unlimited access to documents pertaining to budgetary allocations of the other side for military purposes.
Preparatory to, and as a prerequisite for going to Stage D, agreement would be reached on an International Peace Force (IPF), and International Disarmament Organization (IDO), and needed improvements in world law.
d. Stage D. Stage D will last two years, will apply to all countries of the world. Strategic forces and other forces will be further reduced. Compulsory military training and refresher training of reserves will be limited. Armaments production will be further restricted, and fissionable material production for weapons will stop and more fissionable material will be transferred to peaceful uses. No new countries will [Typeset Page 188] develop nuclear weapons, and no AICBMs will be deployed except by agreement. Production of CBR weapons will be halted and existing stocks destroyed, provided methods for policing prohibition of CBR weapons have been determined and put into effect.
[Facsimile Page 3]During this stage the International Disarmament Organization (IDO) within the United Nations framework will be established, and the bilateral inspection organizations of previous stages will be incorporated in this Organization. The IDO will inspect three additional zones in each state that has participated in previous stages and all 9 zones of newly participating states. In addition to IDO, the United Nations Peace Force will be created.
e. Stage E. Stage E will last two years, during which all national armaments will be further reduced. The final three zones in each country will be opened to inspection. The United Nations Peace Force will be strengthened.
f. Stage F. In this final stage steps will be directed toward a world in which: (1) all national forces will be reduced to agreed numbers required for maintenance of civil order; (2) manufacture of armaments will be prohibited except for use by the United Nations Peace Force and those required to maintain internal order; (3) permanent inspection will be withdrawn and replaced by random inspections; and (4) “the peace-keeping capabilities of the United Nations will be made sufficiently strong and the obligations of all countries sufficiently far-reaching so that they will be able to maintain peace and ensure the just settlement of differences in a disarmed world.”
- “Foster Panel Plan for General and Complete Disarmament.” Confidential. 3 pp. National Defense University, Taylor Papers, Disarmament.↩