https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/db5ff03d4a0127dbe0b72a7575771727.pdf 607c3e99ed3d8188af11842edd6eae9d PDF Text Text Document disclosed under.the Access to mformat'ion*Act - " ^ Document divulgue en vertu de \& Loi sur I'acces a I'information SATO STOCKPILES OF NUCLEAR V&flP ONS -••-1--"- • '" ' •" . . "--• -"• •• . . 7• » • * * "CIVILIAN "COISTEOL''-* OVER. TBE USE OF HUCLEAB WEAPONS " ' . . • " « * ._• . A." • ' BIBLIOGRAPHY (Source and'excerpts) ... •e Departmental Brief for the Ministerial Meeting.of the North Atlantic Council, J» arts,. December 195^ - future ItATQ Defence Planning in theALight of the Effect of Hew Weapons. • J , * .,4 * "Misgivings were also expressed by the United Kingdom ^ in approaches made to the United States aad ourselves in the. last few .daye* The United, Kingdom Government were afraid thai the proposed recommendation would remove from NATO Governments _ the responsibility of taking final decisions about the use of nUclear weapons and, under the system of alerts now being ^ . worked out, would enable SACEUR to begin a thermonuclear war • _• in certain eventualities without. reference to governments*.,,.* The United Kingdom therefore suggested that the beat solution .•'• would be for the Ministerial Meeting to adopt a resolution ' ;;. which would leave SACEDS free to continue to plan in accordance • with military necessity but would at the same reserve to member governments the ultimate responsibility to take final decisions. Sir Anthony Eden proposed that Mr* Dulles and Mr* . Pearson might discuss this matter in Paris on the afternoon of December l6»" ''-"'•.' ^Eecord of Informal Conversation between Sir Anthony Eden and •Honourable L.B, Pearson In Paris on December lba 195*+. A • '". •':.».', *•* ••... . *• » ^Bven with the Alerts difficulty removed, there is still ..",; a political difficulty in giving «g>proval to paragraph 37 of MC *+8«. Certainly, the impression would be.created that government has handed over to the military the power to commit the Alliance to atomic war J end that no other kind of war was conceivable* Policy is likely to become the victim of mill* <.» tary plana if great care is hot taken... MC ^81ttakesmilitary sense but might give rise to political misinterpretation and popular misunderstandings. In the public mind, plans for the use of thermo-nuclear weapons mean not tactical weapons so .. * much as H-Bombs to be dropped on big centres of population* The Council can approve the report for planning purposes, ' but we should make clear that the political factors involved are referred to the Council for consideration* It is. important not to atop the militaiy planning but also not' to give the impression that NATO Governments are politically divided on this issue," Excerpt from Statement by the Canadian Secretary of State for -A External Affairs in the Oouncil on December 17> 195fr»A, , ^ ' ' - - T ** ' ~MR» FE&gSOfc.«?iy% , "Mr* Chairman, we are heartily in.favour of this suggested resolution yihich would give approval to this very Important report and we hope that if this resolution i s .A, unanimously accepted i t may put an end to what has been an , A• unfortunate public controversy over this question, a controversy *. ' i * . ' . < •' • .•'•.•'.'.•..•. ' • • * ' , £ "-••• # •" 000502 • • ' f\ �m^T • ^ ^ , t~ r..i.y ':*•* '••*,,•' BEST AVAILABLBCOPY -V. * Document disclosedjunderthejAceess to/n/or/iiof/pn Act9 . APoeument div!ulgu£ en veVtu de \a LoisurI'acces a 1'infprn.atio £v which unfortunately seems to have arisen, because Of premature,^ if inaccurate, knowledge on the part of ssome members of the*?rese_ -• as'to what waa in this report* There were some of us who had * some, doubts'about the wisdom of the wording of one or two paragraphs in. the report and in those doubts we never, of course had in mind taking a position which would restrict in any '; '• way those who have the responsibility of planning our collective defence* Certainly It would be tragic if they 'felt, that they were, being limited to what Mr* Dulles has called a f second-class defence* '*. " „I think the doubts which wire-.in some peopie s minds arose out .7 of. the advisability of a wording in connection with paragraph 3J which might have created an impression in a public Opinion which is " .understandably uneasy about the. consequences oftineuse of therrao* nuolear weapons, which might have^ created the impression that > ' .. any hostile moye of any kind would be met by tho use of such . - \ weapons*. The resolution which ie before us seems to .reconelle;, the two points of view very satisfactorily, and I hope it will be adopted by the Council*" !' •-•*'•'. '. y . '"• D* " Verbatim Eecord of 50th Meeting of the Oouncil held on Friday, December 17, 195^ in Paris (C-7R(5iQ50? ~ page 21 and ff. MR.'FOSTEk DULLES * * , .."It seems to me that the case ie "absolutely compelling for authorizing the'military authorities 'to make their plans and .preparations in-accordance With the unanimous military advice which has been given us.v A '.,••. ••"' !L'" '•' #• • • •', ' , , * \ . • Now, of course, there is another aspect of this matter which, I know, has given concern to all of our governments, including my own. That is the question of whether and how the defence plans *.' r the defence capabilities *• which!are Created are to be put into '* action in the event of hostilities and aggression attack. That is a problep which irctet -concern us all,' it ia a problem which has been a concerri of the free nations, historically," who have desired that the responsibility, for belligerent action - the conduct of hostilities - basically be in the control of the civilian branch of government and not be a matter where-the initiative lies with the military themselves* Also it is import ant that the respon- ';" sibility should be vested in those who are able to judge from their own position that the.attack is of a nature to call for certain •. types of defence,, and who will be able to. prevent minor outbreaks, which might be judged grave,by those, immediately involvedj not to become an unnecessary cause for a war of vast dimensions, where that*wai not the purpose and"will of the enemy and where the situation might be dealt with by a limited rather than all-out defence.'-, .'". .-.'• t.' .y w. F-** ' • y< ':•-.' ' ' • '• • ' • ' *' In my own country that, problem has been considered and the responsibility in these matters ie vested in the President of the United States* A>• ' ' . • " ' . ' '/ A; -All of us I suppose have certain national war plans whereby the „ -military authorities make' their plans ** make their preparations but where the authority to push the button, so tospeaks which A• -.-- puts one or another plan, into operation is vested, in the civilian heads of government* It seems to me useful^ therefore, to make ','. • clear as, the resolutionyou. read, Mr. Chairman, that, while, approvin ^ the document as a basis for the planning, and preparations of, the HAT( military authorities, that it Should also be made clear that such approval does not involve the delegation of the responsibility , ' of governments .to,putting the" plans into action in the event of' *•• ' hostilities*" .''••"' '.i •. 7 '.*•> ' • ••• ' * • m 3 000503 �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act x _ Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur I'acces a i'informatio K *, TEMPLE - j %& delegati on francaise apprpuve l a proposition qui a ete faite par le Secretajriat International et est p r e t e e voter en sa favour* Sous pOnsons en; effet que ce teste repond bien 'aux deux- preoccupations • que - nous avons en vue: 1* laisser les Autorites militaires poursuivre leurs .7 etudes Sur les transformations des forces armees renduee neces* saires par:l'emploi eventuel de iTafme atomique: * , . • . . • • • . * . - . • . 2laisser aux pouvoirs politiques l a decision d* employer ou non en cas de necessite cette arme atomique,' •' F^ .'•''. - ' • ' / • . Hous rejolgnons l e sentiment exprime par M* Foster Dulles que nos decisions sont destinees avaat tout xa tenter d'eviter un confUV • •"'••••'. " ' . - - ' • M* MABTlgQ_*» .*,., LeGouverhement i t a l i e n se r e l l l e t .au point de vue de M* Foster Dulles,, cfestwWdire que le f a i t d autorl-ser les commandements a i l i t a i r e s a etablir des plans en se basant sur llhypothese envisage'e par le document M*C* h$ ne peut nullement prejuger l le droit que les gouvernements a l l i e s gar dent entier " d'adopter lea decisions politiques necessaires "a Ineffective mise en execution dee plans militaires . Le Gouvernement i t a l i e n . se propose en outre d*appayer toute i n i t i a t i v e tendant ia arriver, dans un prochaiaarenir, "a Une eonvehtion general© sur l a limi. tation et le controle des armements et sur l e probleme des armes atomiques et nucieaires, *ainsi q u ' i l aeW propose de l a part des puissances oecidentales ausein de l a Commission des Armements >: .de-l*QSnj', . './ A Par consequent, il^eat ment ]H,C#^3 doit etre temps pendant laquelle 1'accord souhaite, qui . se'quences d'une guerre <• - . ' • • • , * , naturel que ^approbation^donnee au docuConsideree comme ^liffiite'e a l a periode de i l n'aura pas^ ete possible dtatteindre seui pourra eviter a l*humanite lea oonatomique, . " ,"•'"' j e voudrais ajouter qu% mon avis i l Serait" souhaitable que l e principe de l a limitation et du controle general des armements soit affirme p&r l e Conseil Atlantlque # L'humanite est depuis longtemps soumise aa. choc d'une veritable guerre psycholtgique dans laquelle, i l faut le constater, . ^ ' i n i t i a t i v e a ete toujours ou presque toujours' aux mains du bloc oriental* Yoici une occasion qui me parait "particulierement favorable de inarquer un point, et unp)oint important, en notre faveur* Une affirmation par l e Conseil, t e l l e que je l a propose, aurait jf'estime, 1*effet le plus favorable stir l*opiaioa publlqae*" A . " Decision .by the HATO Council In Ministerial Session on December 17* 195^ regarding Document MC *»8 -tC^E^^O) - Page 10. "The CGUSCILJ ' ". A (1) approved the Milltafy Committee^s report (M*C* h$ ".' (Final)) as a basis for defence planning and prepare* tiohe by the HATO military authorities;, noting that . this approval did not involve the delegation of the «' resp@ttSibiiity 6f governments for putting plans into action in the event of hostilities; "(2) instructed the Communique Drafting Committee to prepare a paragraph Or paragraphs to be included either in the final Communique or as.a separate Communique making clear the unanimous agreement of the Council "with regard to (1)."above; A .* . m H 000504 �'closed undetthe Access to Informati^ Document divulgue en vertu de Id Loisur I'acces a nfmWfon fin k -' O) 4g*eed that the Prese could be informed that the subject had been discussed, tiiat there had been '''•' no difficulties and that the results of the dls*» cussione would appear in the Communique," / ^»1 Directive to thelQiiffi Military Authorities from the forth Atlantic Council-Approved pa December 13, 195k, * * . Part II,: paragraph 6 - "The responsibility of governments to make decisions for putting SATO military plans into action in the 'event of h o s t i l i t i e s is not affected by this directive." 000505 � 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDNW02225 Title A name given to the resource Notes Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource n.d. 1957 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived �NATO - Stockpiling of atomic weapons in NATO countries,� RG25-A-3-b, vol. 5958, 50219-AL-1-40, pt. 1.1, Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Department of External Affairs Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Canadian Crown Subject The topic of the resource atomic cooperation, NATO, nuclear weapons, Europe Description An account of the resource NATO Stockpiles of Nuclear Weapons - "Civilian Control" over the use of nuclear weapons Bibliography Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Canada Declassified Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource en