Office of the Historian

103. Paper Prepared in the White House0

March 19, 1959.

FRENCH SUBMARINE REACTOR

French have been interested in submarine reactor since NATO meeting December 1957.1

Security has been a prime stumbling block, [1 line of source text not declassified].

Present efforts to supply this have divided themselves into two efforts:

1.
An effort to give unclassified aid in the form of material. This effort is about ready to move forward from AEC at any time that the word is received from State.
2.
An effort to provide a complete reactor to the French. This has been held up for security reasons, since the French have agreed to administer this matter through their military establishment (which has been cleared) rather than their AEC, it would appear that this project also could go forward within two weeks.

The procedure in such cases is for the proposed atomic energy agreement between the U.S. and the foreign country concerned to be available to the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy for 60 days.

Main hazards at this moment to the classified project are as follows:

1.
Opposition from Senator Anderson of the Joint Committee. This has been abetted by the stand taken by Admiral Rickover, who believes that the submarine is our last major secret and should not be shared.
2.
The matter of the withdrawal of the French fleet in the Mediterranean from NATO. While this action would not in itself present a legal bar to the provision of this reactor, it would serve to heighten the distrust of the Joint Committee and to provide ammunition for Senator Anderson. [3 lines of source text not declassified] Mr. Herter informed Alphand, when we first received word of French withdrawal intentions, that the French must realize the adverse effect of such action on the President’s ability to comply with their request for a reactor.2

  1. Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, DDE Diaries. Confidential. No drafting information appears on the source text. Initialed by President Eisenhower.↩
  2. Reference is to the NATO Heads of Government Meeting in Paris December 16–19, 1957.↩
  3. Merchant spoke to Alphand at Herter’s instruction; see Document 96.↩