https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/745cbf919d2802f8541a9aa8cba9f076.pdf cd943e79496965c31ad0b92c684376ee PDF Text Text Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur I'acces a I'information " A*. • __-....,-, s s y „j „__ ? S E « TOP SECRET * ™ T A SECRET , December 7, 1950 •••* *..•*.,, 4_ MEMORANDUM FOR MR. HEENEY Oy r»'K _J U.S« enquiry as to appropriate channel for U.S. requests for the movement of atomic bombs to Goose Bay. 1. As you know, in the attached Letter No. 3O88 of December 2, Mr. Wrong reports that the U.S. authorities have asked whaj channel they should use in requesting, from time to time, permission to move atomic bombs to Goose Bay, apparently by air. I personally have no doub't that the clvillan_,channel would be the correct one. You or. the Ac ting'"Minis t er may wfiTT'to dis cu s s ""*tne*pF6 bl em with the Prime Minister. It will be noted that Mr. Wrong urges that he be given a decision on this point in the immediate future. 2. While it may be necessary in the Immediate future to deal with a request for some bombs to be moved to Goose Bay for storage/as an isolated matter, I think we should reach an early agreement with the United States on the whole question of (a) What use Strategic Air Command (SAC) bombers may make of Goose Bay in peace or war; (b) What safety precautions should be applied to the movement and storage of all types of bombs in Canada; and (c) Most important of all, arrangements to ensure that, in the event of an emergency, SAC bombing attacks fvom^&na^Si yi^_jnqtJ^e^LnXXX.B.tQdi without the prior approval of the Canadian Government. It would be difficult, and I think dangerous, to attempt to deal with a request for the transfer of a small number of A-bombs to Goose without going into points (a) to (c), inclusive. 3« At the November 21 meeting of Chiefs, it was agreed, in connection with the proposed appendix to the 000179 �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur I'acces a I'information 4# - 2 - emergency defence plan regarding the provision of SAC bases in Canada, that the RCAF should obtain from the USAF the details of its plans with regard to the use of SAC bases in Oanada and put them up to G.S.C. At the P.J.B.D. meeting on October 2-5, it was indicated that the U.S. authorities would shortly be putting forward their plans to the Canadian Government at a high level. I think Awe should ask Mr.. Wjrrong to urge|lir the_JLmej&c^s_Jto_ -put jA fcL^&s^theXj^^^^l§^3^^^]ier immediate\futu^e..sp_,that t/\ J] the .matt.er^maY-the^ considL.er.ed- -as a. .whole"^ k. Attached is a memorandum of November 29 which outlines Washington's expected overall proposals (para. 2 ) , and makes a preliminary attempt to define the conditions that Canada might attach to SAC use of bases in Canada. Paras. 9 to 12 deal with the difficult question of approval for the initiation of bombing attacks from Canada, and pages 8 to 11 contain the suggestions as to the conditions Canada might attach. 5. One or two comments on Mr. Wrongrs letter and the memorandum attached to it: (1) I understand that atomic bombs are of no real danger provided the nuclear components are detached, and that, by regulation, they are only attached when a plane is over a target area. (2) As regards the last sentence of Mr. Wrong's paragraph 1, while Mr. Wrong was not asked to protest the dropping of the bomb in the St. Lawrence, you will recall making representations to Mr. Woodward. (3) As regards the second sentence of Mr. Wrong f s paragraph 2, this Division had no knowledge of the fact IIthat the G.A.S. and, apparently, the Prime Minister had •approved the movement by the Vjrd Bomber Group of 11 A-bombs, |minus nuclear components, to Goose in August. {k) As regards the first sentence of the last paragraph on page 2 of the memorandum attached to Mr. Wrong's letter, it is our understanding that the storage_faolllt^e_5__at Goose Bay are probably__nQW_readyt since their foundations 000180 �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur I'acces a I'information were poured some time ago. This information may, of course, not be accurate, but if it is we may well receive a request to store bombs at Goose long before next spring. Defence Liaison Division. 000181 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Memorandum for Mr. Heeney Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 07-Dec-50 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG25-A-3-b, File number: 50195-40, pt 1 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDAC01855