811.002/1–247
Minutes of a Meeting of the Secretaries of State, War, and Navy, Washington, April 2, 1947, 3 p.m.
Present
| state | war | navy |
| Acting Secretary | Asst. Secretary | Secretary Forrestal |
| Acheson | Petersen | Under Secretary |
| Mr. Johnson | Col. Hamilton | Sullivan |
| Mr. Allen | Rear Admiral | |
| Mr. Moseley (SWNCC), Recorder | Wooldridge | |
| u.s. delegation to united nations | u.s. atomic energy commission | |
| Mr. Ross | Mr. Lilienthal | |
| Mr. Marks | ||
I. U.S. Position on International Atomic Energy Control
decision
Agreement that consideration would be deferred until the Committee could meet with Senator Austin who is expected to be in Washington the next day.
implementing action
None.
discussion
Mr. Acheson distributed a memorandum prepared by the Executive Committee on the Regulation of Armaments entitled “United States Policy in the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission”.1 He said that this memorandum proposes a different approach from that which was generally agreed upon at the last Meeting of the Committee of Three, when it was determined that the United States representatives should first introduce for the consideration of the Atomic Energy Commission a draft charter of an international control agency proposing in general outline its form, status, functions, etc. Mr. Acheson pointed out that the memorandum of the Executive Committee recommended that the United States should follow a course which will make explicitly clear in the record of United Nations discussions and to world opinion (1) what the essentials for control are, and (2) that it [Page 453] is the opposition of the U.S.S.R. which prevents progress in reaching agreement on an effective system. Mr. Petersen said that the War Department was in general agreement with the conclusions and recommendations of this memorandum. Mr. Forrestal said that the position set forth in the memorandum was also agreeable to the Navy.
Mr. Sullivan said that the second sentence of paragraph 3(d) on page 2 should have added to it a statement to the effect that the United States could not comply legally with demands of the other Members of the Commission for atomic energy information. Mr. Johnson invited Mr. Sullivan’s attention to the parenthetical phrase in the first sentence of paragraph 3(d) which refers to the illegality of releasing information, but stated that he agreed that this phrase or a similar one might best be placed at the end of the second sentence of paragraph 3 (d) as suggested by Mr. Sullivan.
Mr. Lilienthal said that if we attempted to draft a treaty, we might well be put in a difficult position as we would be unable to supply certain information necessary for the drafting of the key provisions of such a treaty.
Mr. Forrestal said that we must be careful that the public does not misinterpret discussion on this subject for actual progress.
[Here follows discussion of other subjects.]