Office of the Historian

81. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Stassen) to Chairmen of All Special Task Groups and the Special Study Staff1

Washington, October 31, 1955.

SUBJECT

  • The Follow-up on the Quantico Session2

The excellent session at Quantico and the significant accomplishment of the Special Task Groups lead to the conclusion that the following procedure would be most fruitful for the continued carrying out of the President’s directive:

A.
A special working group be established consisting of one representative from each of the Special Task Groups under the chairmanship of the working group member from General Smith’s Task Group.3
1.
This working group to proceed to fit together in one comprehensive inspection plan to apply to the Soviet Union and to the Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe the inspection proposals of the various groups.
2.
The regions to be established for the ground inspection service in a manner similar to the Smith Report, with such adjustments as may be needed to fit more readily the Navy requirements for regionalization and the communications flow, having in mind also the external communications net, and the relation to the external bases of the air inspection.
3.
Anticipate that all ground inspection shall be under one command, that this will be established through the United States Department of Defense, that the United States would be the effective agent of the International Armaments Commission for the purpose of inspection in this territory, and that the United States would incorporate inspection personnel from states associated in collective defense agreements with the United States, and would also be required to associate some observers from the so-called neutral states.
4.
Arrange the external and internal communications net to best fit with the potential of communications facilities, the external bases, and internal flight patterns of the air inspection and the regional and local ground inspection organization.
B.
The Nuclear Task Group to proceed with the spelling out of the method of conducting a supervised stockpile of nuclear material in four countries, and within the USSR, United Kingdom, and United States, to be used if and when agreements are reached to place materials in such supervised stockpile.
C.
The Industry Task Group to consider further the numbers and types of personnel needed for its inspection role and to consider other industries which would need special attention beyond the power industry supervision.
D.
All Task Groups to prepare a statement of requirements for aerial inspection service and submit these to the Air Task Group for their consideration and accommodation.
E.
The Air Force Task Group to specify their requirements for ground inspection and sea approach inspection and submit these to the Army and Navy Task Groups respectively.
F.
All Task Groups to present to the Communications Task Group their requirements for communications facilities for appropriate accommodation.
G.
The Communications Task Group to be assisted through photographic specialists in working out safeguarding arrangements for internal communications.
H.
Special sub-working groups of any two or three or four of the Task Groups to be established when suitable to prepare segments of the total work.
I.
The comprehensive inspection plan, after preparation by the working group, to be reviewed by the Task Group Chairmen under the chairmanship of General Walter B. Smith, and following this review, to be presented to the Special Assistant to the President, and subsequently to the President and the NSC.
J.
The Nuclear Task Group to make a special study of the development of a bomb “Sniffer” and to advise whether a specific request of the Atomic Energy Commission should be made by the Special Assistant to the President in this regard.
K.
A sub-working group of the Air Force Task Group and the Nuclear Task Group to make a special study of the problem and feasibility of the separation of nuclear weapons from their carriers in relation to an inspection system.
L.
The Air Force and Navy Task Groups to each make a study of the requirement for reporting in advance on projected movements of carriers with a nuclear weapons capability in connection with an inspection system.
M.
Each Task Group Chairman to advise on the anticipated time schedule involved in the rigid implementation of this follow-through assignment.

Harold E. Stassen

  1. Source: Department of State, Disarmament Files: Lot 58 D 133, Inspection—Task Force. Top Secret. The source text is labeled “Draft.” In a cover letter to Lieutenant General Doolittle, chairman of the Air Inspection Task Force, November 1, Stassen wrote:

    “I am sending this memorandum to you in draft in order that you might make suggestions for its refinement, but you may proceed to move in general in accordance with the draft and work with your liaison officer on my staff to expedite the task.” (Ibid.)

    ↩
  2. See Document 78.↩
  3. General Walter Bedell Smith was chairman of the Army Task Group.↩