r -- f' q o I o I ' A'ITACm-mNT o o o EP i RTMENT OF STATE SECRETARIAT SS#9955 ' -- o ExicuT1v N 'l O'PJilS i -i J1 ovember 4 1955JPY fH 'ix- ' 11 ' o J_ o o S - Mr S aotoo Proposal To Provide UK Air Defense For ces with Atomic Weapons vill recall that the Secretary wrote Mr Gates on October 15 concerning the above proposal Tab C Io this letter the Secretary suggested that Mr Hager aod the General Counsel of the Defense Department notify the Attorney General that the proposal was being put before the President Mr Oates indicated his agreement with this course of action io bis reply of October 24 Tab B You Appropriate notification of the Attorney General's office was accoroplisbed oo October 29 The memorandum of the conversation between Messrs Hager and Burke and Deputy Attorney General Walsh is at Tab A l t Jobe A Calhoun DEPARTMENT OF STATE 2- - - tb J s document cons i s l or - -- - - - ---- p3ges o o Memoranclum of Wif sitron- of _ _ _ ____ c opies Series _ __ _ OFFICE OF MR WALSH DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE DATE SUBJECT October 29 1959 Agreement with U K re GENIE missile - n I PARTICIPANTS COPIES TO Lawrence E Walsh Deputy Attorney General J Vincent Burke Gen ral CoUI1sel Department of Defense Eric H Hager The Legal Adviser Department of S tc1-t a n n - 'I I' The Secretary i ' S AE l l I u u This conference took place after a luncheon during which Mr Walsh had introduced Mr Burke and myself to a number of the Assistant Attorneys General and at a private conference at which the three of us were discussing other matters of mutual concern including the problem of unauthorized flights over Cuba Mr Burke opened the conversation on this matter by s tating that he and I wished to inform Mr Walsh of a proposed agreement with the U K relating to the stockpiling and handling in the U K of an American air-to-air missile with an atomic warhead to be used on RAF interceptor aircraft flown by RAF personnel He outlined the substance of the proposal including the retention by the U S of ownership of the right to evacuate and destroy and of custody while on the groUI1d and the requirement of concurrence by CINCEUR in the declaration of the necessary state of air alert before the plane could take off with the missile and of concurrence by CINCEUR or its representative in the identification of the target as i J hostile before the missile could be fired He - oo ' - 1 oa l oo ' a o I j f ' r - o o i' i b _ L_ _ _____ _____ _______________________--1 - c J - _ -- - o -2- He pointed out that because of the necessity that interceptor aircraft be air-borne if the missile were to have any defense value in the event of imminent attack the proposal thus provided for actual United States custody only up to the point of takeoff permitted only during the required state of air alert and for control without physical custody thereafter as distinguished from full U S custody until firing in the case of other atomic weapons He advised that he and I had both agreed that the proposal was not contrary to the Atomic Energy Act and within the constitutional powers of the President He stated that the proposal had been approved by Secretary of State Herter and Deput y Secretary of Defense Gates and had been sent to the White House for approval by the President and that it might possibly be referred to the Attorney General for his views At my instance Mr Burke also added that the decision by the U K as to whether to prepare the RAF aircraft in question for this missile or for conventional weapons was being held up pending approval by the President of the proposed agreement so that the matter had some urgency l - Mr Walsh asked whether we wished him to do anything in this connection We answered that we did not think that any action had to be taken by his Department unless the matter were formally referred to it and that we had no advice that it would be so referred We said that we were merely calling upon him to advise him informally of the nature and status of the proposal and of our approval of it from a legal standpoint in case it should be refe rred to the Department of Justice ' L EHHage r ejs This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu