<--PREV Doc #97  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #99 Document #98; April 2, 1957 To Harold Macmillan Series: EM, AWF, International Series: Macmillan ; Category: Secret The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVIII - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part I: A New Beginning, Old Problems; January 1957 to May 1957 Chapter 2: Foreign Aid   Dear Harold: Thank you for your letter of March twenty-third enclosing a memorandum concerning cooperation within the Western European Union in armaments research, development and production.1 As I indicated when we discussed this subject at Bermuda, we recognize the political considerations underlying your interest in strengthening WEU, and the economic and military benefits which might be derived from a cooperative effort within WEU with respect to the research, development and production of armaments. I am generally sympathetic to the broad purpose which your Government has in mind. There are of course several important practical considerations which must be taken into account and which I am sure you fully appreciate. These considerations arise from the necessity of maintaining essential safeguards on the security of military information and of protecting the proprietary rights of United States citizens and business concerns with respect to items of military equipment or technical information which might be involved. As I believe the memorandum attached to your letter recognizes, the question of your making available to other WEU countries armaments information containing data restricted by security agreements between the United Kingdom and the United States, or among the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, will in the final analysis have to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, I think that the only general statement that can usefully be made at the present time in response to your question (a) is that we will give such case-by-case requests our most prompt and careful consideration. With respect to your question (b), I think it is implicit that, within the arrangements already in effect, including the security agreements, and within the procedure under which our two Governments would examine items which you may wish to release to WEU countries, there would be no prejudice to existing United States-United Kingdom cooperation. It is my understanding that NATO would be kept informed of this coordination within WEU and that the arrangements contemplated in your memorandum would be without prejudice to comparable arrangements for exchange of information in the NATO forum. I concur in the suggestion that specific lists of projects which you wish to discuss with us be communicated to the Department of State through normal diplomatic channels. The Departments of State and Defense can then give the matter their attention.2 With warm regard, As ever 1 On March 22 at the Bermuda Conference Eisenhower had asked Prime Minister Macmillan for this memorandum (see no. 78; and State, Foreign Relations, 1955 - 1957, vol. XXVII, Western Europe and Canada, pp. 724 - 28). The State Department drafted this response (see Eisenhower to Macmillan, Mar. 25, 1957, AWF/D-H; and Dulles to Eisenhower, Apr. 1, 1957, ibid.). On April 5 the State Department would cable the text of this letter to the American embassy in London for delivery to Macmillan (AWF/I: Macmillan). The signed original would be sent by diplomatic pouch on the following day. Britain's purpose, Macmillan had written, was "to prove our resolve to co-operate with Europe, to give greater reality to the concept of a united Europe, and to offset the effects of our force reductions." Aware of the security considerations involved, Britain had made it clear to the WEU that cooperation "must be without prejudice" to Britain's association with the United States. Although atomic matters would be excluded from discussion, the British planned exchanges that would incorporate some information, obtained from the United States, about new weapons projects. Macmillan asked specifically if (a) the United States would "adopt a liberal attitude towards the release of information" and (b) would give an assurance that Britain's association with the WEU would not prejudice the release of further information (Macmillan to Eisenhower, Mar. 23, 1957, AWF/I: Macmillan). 2 "We are very conscious of the practical considerations mentioned in the third paragraph of your letter," Macmillan would write, and he assured the President that security safeguards would be maintained (Apr. 27, 1957, AWF/I: Macmillan). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Secret To Harold Macmillan, 2 April 1957. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 98. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/98.cfm <--PREV Doc #97  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #99

Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission 1629 K Street, NW Suite 801 Washington DC 20006 Phone: 202.296.0004    Fax: 202.296.6464