DECLASSIFIED J JD 4- $ UJ l Oy tJ_ tJ 1 R ' Dal 1 ltif Aulhoriiy _ _ _ _ _W - - - • • · · i • · b' OFF CI U -ID'Oll ' AL Dear Dicks plans have become aomlnlbat more definite since I wrote on June 15 and I wuld l ilce to let you knov now sometbillg more about the atomic aspects Inciden l asswn e you have seen the telegr11111 D enso sent to CINCEUR 979077 ot Jwie 22nd It was not quite as torlhcom1 ng or eJq licit aa it might have been but I hope it will be sut icient to do the job 1' First I - -ould like to 6%plain a little inore about the background For tho lust several months the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy has been taking increasing interest in the arrangements for CW1tody and control US atanic veapon s abroad Ve in BA have recently learned I about several letters between the Joint Ca mdttee and the Departlllent and '-J betlfeen the Joint Committee and Deten se Essent1ally the Colllmittee wonders whether we real lJ' have · excl usive cuatod y ot atomic weapons when as in the cue of the THORs in tbe UJC mating bas taken place and all we• have is a key or a comsole Tbe Joint Counittee backed up its inquiry by a refer- ence to an Aide Me111oire to the Soviets earlier this spring in which we J oserted we had exclusive custOCQ a over weapons deployed abroad As you ma ' have noticed r0111 the law York 'l'imes several weeks ago Hr Merchant c--- was called to a bear be ore- tiie Joint Co llmittee on torsign requests '- ' tor cooperation on atomic submarines The questions ranged uther afield _ however and 1 t·was as an outgrowth a£ the Department's experience at this bearing that the possibility ot lllY' trip developed Matters have now W 'Ul8 ---turtbar to a be d and as you vill probably read in the Kew York Times of taaarroir Hr Merclumt bas gone to another bearing beforet1ie7oint Comm ttee this lll0rZ1ing to discuss at their request custody and control in general and apeci ical l y·in relation to GENIE and IRBMai As you lllllY knov · the hearing on the proposed OIUD E arrange nent vith the Ui a ew montba ago was a pparently vhat arouaed the Joint Committee's interest in the whole subject of custody and contro l V The purpose Richard B Finn E quire O tice of t ile Political Adviser Headquarters U S European Command c o marican Embassy Paris In f act thGy were interested in connection with all weapons systems including new ones 1 SECRET ·- ·· · · · ·- - - -- • - OECLAS lrlED Au horiiy REPROOUCEO AT lUl NATIONA AACHSvt SI JJ IJ D gMlfll l -lly jtf_ tl1'Rfl na 2-• ltif -- - -· - ·i w SECRET • ' -2- l The plU'pose or J S1 trip as I partially suggested in nzy' earlier I I ' letter ia to i'ind out in a preliminary vay for the Department exactly vbat the actual arrangement a a re or Jllaillt a1n1ng i uatody and control at various stockpile sitea The general philosophy is that the Department ia re sponaibl e for concluding agreemonta· with oOll lltriBs setting Ol'th the principles governing the d eploj'IIIBnt o US atomio weapons or use by such countries · It is then up to De 'enso to work out the' speci ic arrangements in consonance with these general principles The position which 1 being recommended or adoption by the Department is that we a sume ·s0111e resp01Jsibility or insuring that the provisions of the lav are being metJ and that we cannot te Jco the position that once the ag1·eements are nee otiati d their implementation is entirely Defense I s re sponsibllity A a I believe I made clcnr no aoo in t he Department knows what the actual arrangements are at given aitos Before describing what I am supposed to do I would l1lce to mention ane other develoi -nent of interest Last night tho Depart rucnt received v ord ·from the JCAE etaff that the start waa proposing an amendm'Jllt of the AtQld c Energy Aet o 1958 The itar is t hink1ng in tema o putt through th1I' amendment during the current· aeosion it it· inds favor with the Camnittee etc It 1 8 likely that the proposed changes vill be put onrard dur ·tho bcarixlg todq The Dopo rtment•e likely- position at the ·hearing would be re eptivuneae concernil lg the 1Dtent of the changes but indicat t hat· because of the lCllXE legal complications involved some otudy' would be required · The st f lll8lllorandum proposed three ahallges to the legislation J • A statement that the US should ret jn exclusive custody ot weapons deployed abroad but 'OS o tanic ' it the Preaidant so decidea tiler• could be j oint cust between the ·us and 'the tlK and between the US and multi-national 2 HATO 'ar-ces • 3 Weapons rill not be released except in the event o hostilities or of o Presidential declaration procls1m1ng the ex1 stence of a ·public e DBrgency thoughts are that the s econd pr ovision would have to 'be broadened to pennit joint cuiitody with ccuntries other tha n the UK On the third point vhich apparently is designed to cope with the German problem - ie tend to think that the President 's pOll'ers are such that he could turn over the weapon a to oroign forces in a period of tension be f ore hostilities v ithout the existence of 6Uch a declaration · These Our own first thoughts are SECRET - ·-· ij • • •' R E D ATTHE NATIONAt AACHIVES' · •· StC El • -3thO libts are very preJ1m1nA J7 aa you vill a ppreciate and by- the time you vill have received this letter the vbole subject Wldoubtedly will have proceeded much turther With respect to 'llr ' own plans I vilJ be going directly to Copenhagen arriving t here on July J Dt I 11187 go up to Oslo the next day or possibly July 4 or In any event I expect to be in Paris by July $ or 6 · I vill let you know 1'rom Copenhagen when I will arrive My intention would be to O out to see you first in Paris and to try- to make plans for visiting stockpile sites in Germany Italy perhaps Turkey and the UK in that order We do not kllaw here which sites are activated but those · set forth in tbe enclosure would be the type of s ites I would have in mind seeing ii' it were possible to work out such a schedule I£ I found out enough in the first two countries I might not continue tc- ciU•c -llle or both ot the others Alternatively I could look in at Greece 11' tpat seemed desirable I hope that this description lill give you a fairly clear id ea of what I would like to do I am not interested primarily in looking at igloos or what is inside but rather in finding out once at a 11ite wlwt the actual arrangements are or maintai cuotody over a weapon once it has been hung on foreign aircraft or enuuple or how such custody ie inaintained in the · e ot an Honest John in the field with the nuclear warhead · Hy id ea would he to look at various weapons s ystems in di ferent countries to see how custody is maintained I l eave entirely up to you bow to proceed I£ you think it 'WOuld be desirable you could speak to SOlll8 of your military friends before I arrive and try to llne things up I would think that I could transact all 111 Y other business in Paris - the · ibaasy USRO and a call on Rq TlmrSton - within two dai ra Ideally ii' the Amy wanted to drive you and me around or otherwise transport us to tako a qui cit look at such sites in OetlllBllY that might be the best solution I llill be leaving here attar worlc on Thursday June 30 in case you should want to get a bold o me by telephone I I 'don• t hear from you I will get in touch with you Friday or Saturday f'rca CopenhagAn Needloss to say much of' the forgoing is extremely delicate · particuiar with Defense sinCe in a way ve are feeling our vay alcq with them right nav with respect to our reilponnbllitiea concerning the legal provisions for maintaining custody Sincerely yours John Y Millar Enclosure1 List cc Mr Wolf Mr Thurston EUR RA JIM1ll ar1bpv P S The Co11111littee did not show a great de of interest in the suggested changes in the legis lation As of today it does not look as though the changes would go through this Session reffore as of the moment no one should get i d in Paris I ' ll have the latest infonnation when I come - if t here is any more SE - • - • t • - ••t• ' 'I I Weapons Syatem User Nation NIKE Any H T JOHll 811 Howitzer Any tfUu_ S N If Oermarry UK Corporal Strike Squadron Any other tba ll US And of Secondary Interest us us LACROSSE REDSTONE MACE US or Germao y IF Affr ITALY HOHEST Jam IRBH HIKE Marit lllie Patrol Squadron Italy SETAF It Q Italy Italy Strike Squadron Italy o US at Aviano f J ✓ HONE STJOBH Str 1 k e InBM Turkey Turkey- Squadron Turkey Turkey NIKE - II BM Baiiber Uni t t o' UK UK UK ----------- N C - SECRET I UK Strike Squadron ' 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 The U S Nuclear Presence in Western Europe 1954-1962 Part II 2020-09-17