Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, National Security Affairs; Foreign Economic Policy, Volume I

PM Files¹

The Secretary of State to the Acting Chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (Pike)

confidential

Washington, April 20, 1950.

Dear Mr. Pike: As you are aware, it is United States policy to seek the establishment of effective international control of atomic energy by supporting the United Nations plan as set forth in the attached document.²

It would be most useful to the Department of State to obtain from the Atomic Energy Commission a current evaluation, without regard to political issues, of this plan to determine whether any technological changes have occurred or are likely to occur in the United States or abroad which would change the technical assumptions which underlie this plan or which would invalidate it or necessitate changes in its control features.

Since there is some urgency in this matter, I should appreciate receiving the results of this evaluation as soon as possible.

Sincerely yours,

Dean Acheson

1. Files retained by the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of State.
2. Department of State Publication 3646, “International Control of Atomic Energy and the Prohibition of Atomic Weapons: Recommendations of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission,” released October 1949.