Office of the Historian

Department of State Disarmament Files

Summary of Action of a Meeting of the Executive Committee on Regulation of Armaments, Washington, December 9, 1947, 3 p.m.1

Washington, December 9, 1947, 3 p.m.
top secret
RAC S–80 Final Revision

1. Convening of a Committee of Consultants on International Control of Atomic Energy

1. Action: The Committee agreed that confidential oral inquiries should be made of selected individuals concerning the advisability of convening a Committee of Consultants to advise the Department of State on international control of atomic energy. Final decision on this matter should be made by the Secretary of State in the light of the above advice.

2. U.S. Role in Committee 1 of the UNAEC

1. Action: The Committee agreed that when the AEC resumes its meetings the U.S. by its activities in Committee 1 should focus public attention on the inadequacy of the Soviet proposals and on the wide divergencies separating the majority and the minority on the elements of an international control system.

[Page 701]

3. Work of Committee 2 of UNAEC

1. Action: The Committee agreed that the organization and staffing paper (RAC D–20/17)2 prepared in USUN should be studied by the Executive Committee prior to a decision by this Government as to the scope of the discussions in Committee 2. In the meantime the present informal method of developing proposals on “Organizational Structure” (item A–3 (a)) should be continued, it being understood

(a)
that this would not lead to discussion by the Atomic Energy Commission of the other matters on the subject list and
(b)
that nothing would be reported to Committee 2 which would occasion a reservation on the part of any of the majority group.

It was further understood that Mr. Osborn might at a later date reopen with the Executive Committee the question of the discussion in the Atomic Energy Commission of the balance of the topics on the subject list.

4. Security Council Consideration of the Second Report of the Atomic Energy Commission

1. Action: The Committee agreed:

(a)
The United States should avoid being drawn into a full-scale discussion when the Second Report is reached on the agenda.
(b)
If the United States can find an opportunity to make a tempered, factual statement of its views without provoking protracted discussion and without leading to the introduction of a resolution, it should take advantage of such an opportunity.
(c)
The United States, however, should be prepared for a full-scale debate in the Security Council.
(d)
If the Soviets should seek an understanding under which the Security Council would merely note the Report, the United States should acquiesce.

Present

Members:

  • Department of State
  • Messrs. George F. Kennan (for Mr. Lovett), Chairman
  • Dean Rusk, Deputy Chairman
  • John C. Elliott, Executive Secretary
  • Earl D. Sohm, Secretary
  • Department of the Army
  • Colonel Pierpont Hamilton (for Mr. Draper)
  • Department of the Navy
  • Mr. W. John Kenney
  • Department of the Air Force
  • Mr. C. V. Whitney
  • Atomic Energy Commission
  • Mr. Robert F. Bacher
  • USUN
  • Ambassador Warren R. Austin
  • Consultants
  • Department of State
  • Messrs. Edmund Gullion
  • Donald Blaisdell
  • Howard Johnson
  • Department of the Navy
  • Admiral E. T. Wooldridge
  • Captain H. P. Smith
  • USAEC
  • Mr. Joseph Volpe, Jr.
  • USUN
  • Messrs. Frederick Osborn
  • John Ross
  • Gordon Arneson

  1. This record, drafted December 29, 1947, was transmitted to Austin in despatch 15, January 15, 1948, for the guidance of the United States Mission at the United Nations (USUN Files).↩
  2. Not printed.↩