- -----------------· -· DECLASSIFJED J Authority NN 12'18' 10 SBaRBT - LIMDIS DBBBJ11l' JJIB O ' DR R WBBBIB 1 SOIEHOI A ft A CB JHBRIOU PfflA§SY lfovea ber TEtt VIV 18 1965 1 WIIODa Dr Vebber considers that J 1mcna makes no sense except as the buia tor a vaapons project He atreBBed the isolation ot it11 location and tbs tact that acient1at1 don't care to work at 111ch a rt1110te place on nomal proj eota • lie eaid that about 50 percent ot Israel I s total inveataent tor reaearoh and development during 1959-64 was put into DiDona llllost all it not all of the lrenoh tecbnioiane have gone hom eJ at one time there were about 200 at Dillona 1'he D baona budget is buried under apeoial f'unda and b7 other dev l ce• in the GOI budget One indication that while work at Dimon is continuing it is not on a crash baaia is the apparent reduction · in the put 7ear or so ot the number ot I1raeli eoientist• vorldng there He believes that Israel baa at Dilllona a • semi-pilot plant• inetallation to handle plutonium and irradiated rods It haa a 26-aegawatt reactor which ia suitable to produce 'one or two bom ba per 7ear Iaraells ganer are •fine chm eta but poor mechanics• and their apparent choice or the plutoniUII rather than centrituge road is and that facilities have been developed consistent with this 2 I blona Ip apectiona u s soienti1ta vho have inapeoted Dilllona HElll to have Although the been satisfied Dr Vebber ia not He reels DilDona ia Jlllch 110re or a m111 tery project than Ml- Stabler ot the ilO il I vllllng to accept Dr Webber at ran believes that another u s inapeotion should be made at an ea r q date 8VBXl though be ia not aatiatied with the reauJ ta aooampllahed by prev ioua inapectiona Inspections aa in the past are better than none tor ths y give ua information va would not otherwise have and give U8 a p97ohologioal advantage Bis reOOlllllmldations tor illlproving U S inspeot1on1 are1 a Tb 97 ahoul d be oanducted at leut twice and preterabq three tbie• yearq and b ve should inaiat on 1l110h better aooeaa to records an the tlov of uranium and on other aattera Regarding uraniUll he believes Argentina is the source ot 1101t of Iarael • • current import• but aid we have no Jcnovledge of what happens to it attar it reaches Haif'a v'e ahould tr r to develop illport and uae figures on this uranium He noted that 101ae years ago Israel received 10 ton 11 of uraltiua fl'Clll South Africa Dr Webber believes the inspection iaaue is a var - sensitive matter tor the Eablcol governmmt and that even though the recent eleotiona have given 'lahkol a tirller bue of support hia govarmumt could be overthrow on the question ot 01 • on• inapeotiona He atreHed that the J'imlq article SICD r - LJMDIS - e- --_- - - _________ DECLASSIFIED Authority N 1 p'I 89 'l-PS- - - SlagT -2in the ID Im in the spring of 1965 lmrt the tJSG podtion OD inspections Beri Jll8q' no natter vhat reorbdnations there mq have been as to whether the story was spilled b y Bhan or hr an American eauroe He believes the GOI has decided it ommot trust the secrec of f'llture tJ S inspections 3 Israe1• Detern1n t1op to Jeep the Hucl ear Option ni- Webber believes we should discount the GOI•s statanent that it will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Arab-Iarfel area He tbink8 that Israel is determined to retain this option and that shoul d Israel give it up at all it would be on a bilateral bub not through aoceptanoe ot IW sldeguards Be does not think ve are going to get Israeli acceptance ot IW aldeguarda no matter what we threaten yet he ccmcedea that ve ehoul d make the ettort He believes we vlll have to fall baolc on same bilateral tom ot inspection Be doe not believe Israeli• O'lllT n'tq producing veapana but rather iB building up its base tor tu ture vaapons production Be suspects Israel ia tb1nk 1ng tn term a of the entire range of poaaible waapona i e · tactical u ve1l u atrategio 11i11e veapona Be does not think I11rael hall plans to have a nuclear warhead re to attach to the J0 -620 misaile wbiah v lll be available in a year or 10 Re agrees that a plutonium separation plant is an e 1ential elaiumt 1n arq nuclear vaapona effort Israel mq be mounting and that our aurrent intelligence reveal I no aign of such a plantJ he believes but hae no oanarete evidence that Israel is ourrentq aotive somewhere and B011ehow OD this lllias1ng link Be OC111Dented that it might be po11ible tor Israel to obtain pretabriaated weapons parta and therehr lJJp H soae otharviae eaeential steps in the overal l process Dr 'Webber believes that while Israel is Beeking to keep the Arabs and oft balance it ia not i-eal q worried about being able to• defeat 8f1T possible ocai nation ot Arab toroea vi thin the next aeveral years Israel 1 s real wrry 111 that it t be threatened 10 or so years hence hr an W1beatable combination of modern conventional militar y equipll8Dt in Arab hands and that it 1 • at that time that haviDg the nuclear option open will be ot t rmandoua importance • oared Dr Webber atreased the pqahologioal motivation that pervade the tb1n dng or top level Israel acientiata auoh u Dr Brnat Bergmann Be can't 1magine that Bergmann wuld 1pend the count17 1 s aubll'tence on such a vast scale as at D1laona tor pure rHearch Be believes that Barpann th1nu in tame of •science and aecurity'l and that he haa been convinced since the llid-50'11 that one WV or another despite poHible clelqa due to st rates-a of the u s lJSSll or world omarnity nuclear weapo118 ldJJ proliterate Therefore Bergmann is convinced 11 J t-- DE C LASS IFIED -- -- - - - - - - - - - - -Authority - - - - - Ntw p'J 85 7-PS - SQIT - 3- Iarael JIIU8t keep the neceHary- nuclear supplies designs and facilities on band Bergmann and others are convinced tbat sb milllon Jews died in the 1940'e because Jevs were too complacent and they- aren•t going to make the same lid stake again fh - wish to ease into a situation vhere they could uke a bomb in a matter ot veeka 4 eating Israeli testing vould proba be carried out underground perhaps at the 1arge natural depression southeast ot D1mona Ramekbtesh Haqatan • Testing might not be necessary- however He does not believe Israel cou1d test without our knowing it He thinks Israel proba has the requisite test equipment high-speed cameras etc Dr Webber sqa tbat u s military ottioials are continual 17 amued b7 the oaSllal handling ot high expl osives b7 Israelis Dr 'Webber estimates that Israel can attain full test capability within two 7eara and veapons production capabilit r in five to eight years s Desalting The big question for Israel is lflml to begin desalting vater tram the sea and not whether to start Iisrael bas lllUch greater nmbility than is smetimes realized v 1th respect to total water availabUitie1 Dr 'Webber mentioned three projects being pushed b7 Israel to increa1e its total vater potentials l The improvement or irrigation techniques 'Which could add 100 to 200 Ji V Dll•Jl y 2 The tapping of reah water just before it nows into the sea b7 means or ahallov ve11a tairq close together near the cout This cauld add 60 to 80 MCK annuaU y It is a mT-sponsored research project 3 Purification of brackish vater under the legev0 wbich is relati cheap and oDUl d add 200 to 300 or 110re MCM anmJ1Jl7 Dr Webber pointed out that these poll libilitiea put Israel in position to postpone tor 1IUUl1 rears it neoeesary inauguration ot a 11ea water desalting project Tbi 1 situation makes it 1111ch more difficult ror the u s to inaist on Iill or other safeguards u a condition or helping finance a large desalting project in Israel 6 Myeterioua Project at Mime Bmr At Mill Pe Bam on just of the 'main road about halt v q from l eersheba to E llat Israel 11 •taking the top orr a 1l0untain• It is not a large mountain but the project w atever it is producee a strange sight Dr Vebber points out that this location Kt Ar lkha is located just tar enough f' ram the UAR frontier to be out of range ot lgyptian art llleey Re is inclined to believe it a rocket emplacaent project and he doubts that it is a DU Cl ear installation ot q- sort ' - C DECLASSIFJED Authority Nt P 189 70S - 7 GQI Po11tion on IJop-Proliferation sreement Dr Vebber thinks Iarael be persuaded to sign a non-prolli eration agr ment il Buser signed provided the GOI coul d rel1' on an escape clause r 8 Ime11 Attitude Toward e rioanp puch aa 'Weimer •nd Opp nbeilller Be believes that kq Iaraelis look upon tha aa wl 1-mea ning bll t do not give much heed to their viewa Thq are aonsidered •aJ ilaon1' JBWB•-v1U1ng to pq ror Iarae1 1 s suB'tenanoe bll t not to live there 9 B@cTPemJed Bee11na Hlm1a Hardor a llUDber ot the GOI detenae eatablillhment baa written Striotl y Illegal an aooount ot pre-1949 Palestine It was published 1n Engliah in the u I a few months ago Dr llebber recommends it tor its insight• into Israell Jeviah ps yoholoa and determination 10 Persons Hr Hr Hr Hr Hr Mr Mr Mr Mr Hr ltt ndjpg ilrred L Atherton - HI llilliam Brewer - S P Yreatham B Gathright - S P Harold Glidden - m BIIA 1'homas alsted - nm SIS David L Gamon - D J nton li liJergea - BE Michael Sterner - BE William D Wolle - Bl Willia Salmon - SOI NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE 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 Read related article Duplicity Deception and Self-Deception Israel the United States and the Dimona Inspections 1964-65 2020-11-03