Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–14, Part 2, Documents on Arms Control and Nonproliferation, 1973–1976

200. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft) and the President’s Assistant for Domestic Affairs (Cannon) to President Ford¹

Washington, June 22, 1976.

SUBJECT

• Possible Presidential Statement and New U.S. Initiatives to Reduce Proliferation Due to Commercial Nuclear Power Activities

ERDA Administrator Seamans has recommended (letter at Tab A) undertaking a major program to provide nuclear fuel reprocessing in the U.S., permitting foreign participation in this activity, and using this program as the centerpiece of a major Presidential statement on non-proliferation.

The problem of weapons proliferation—because of greater availability of plutonium from commercial nuclear power plants—is gaining steadily increasing attention in the Congress, the media, and in the public. There are growing concerns that current U.S. activities to safeguard against diversion of materials from U.S. exports are inadequate. Additional attention will be focused on potential proliferation problems when controversy within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over exports to Spain and India becomes public next week.

We agree that the time has come for considering new initiatives and, probably, for a major Presidential statement on nuclear export policy and perhaps on nuclear energy. However, we also believe that other aspects of the problem leading to Dr. Seamans’s letter need to be considered and that other proposals should also be evaluated as part of a complete response to the current situation.

Tab B provides a broader treatment of the matters raised by Dr. Seamans. It summarizes:

—The current problems;

—Existing measures and activities to control proliferation;

—Recent and upcoming events suggesting the need for action;

—Administration response thus far;

—Possible additional responses.

Tab C is a preliminary outline of the content of a possible Presidential statement.

In view of the complex nature of the issues involved, covering both domestic and foreign policy interests, a number of agencies will need to be involved in developing and evaluating possible initiatives and in drafting a proposed statement. These include: ERDA, State, Defense, NRC, OMB, Commerce, and possibly some other members of the Energy Resources Council.

Recommendations

1. That you direct that work begin immediately to develop and evaluate the potential initiatives described briefly in Tab B, with decision papers presented to you by mid-July.

2. That you tentatively decide to issue a statement or send a message to Congress in late July or early August on nuclear matters. Depending on the evaluation of possible initiatives, it could be limited to nuclear exports and non-proliferation or a more general nuclear statement.

3. That you assign responsibility jointly to us (Brent Scowcroft and Jim Cannon) to develop and carry out a plan to accomplish the necessary work, in cooperation with OMB, the ERC, and all of the agencies concerned.

1. Summary: Scowcroft and Cannon sent ERDA Administrator Seamans’s recommendation for a program to provide nuclear fuel processing in the United States to Ford. They recommended that Ford direct that work begin immediately to “develop and evaluate” the initiatives Seamans proposed, issue a statement or a message to Congress on nuclear matters, and assign responsibility to Cannon and Scowcroft to develop a plan to carry out the work, in cooperation with the various agencies.

   Source: Ford Library, James M. Cannon Files, Issues File, 1972–77, Box 24, Nuclear Policy Statement, June–July 1976. No classification marking. Sent for action. Ford did not approve or disapprove any of the recommendations. Tab A is Document 198. Tab B is Document 201. Tab C is not attached and not found.