Office of the Historian

Department of State Disarmament Files

Memorandum by the Executive Committee on Regulation of Armaments1

confidential
RAC D–18/2a
[Washington,] July 25, 1947.

Basic Principles Which Should Be Incorporated in an International Supervisory System for the Regulation and Reduction of Armaments

preamble

The principle has been established by the General Assembly of December 13 [14], 1946, “that essential to the general regulation and reduction of armaments and armed forces is the provision of practical and effective safeguards by way of inspection and other means to protect complying states against the hazards of violations and evasions”.

1.
An international agency should be established within the framework of the Security Council, deriving its powers and status from the treaty or treaties under which it is established, to supervise and administer a system of regulation and reduction of conventional armaments.
2.
The international agency should be broadly representative of the states participating in the system, but limited in size in the interest of efficient operations. It should be composed of a representative from each of the states which are members of the Security Council, the non-permanent membership changing in conformity with elections to and retirement from the Security Council.
3.
The inspectorate should be recruited on the basis of character and competence from all participating states and should have international status similar to that provided for the International Secretariat.
4.
There should be routine inspections which should be automatic, and such other inspections as the agency may decide upon. The inspectorate will include nationals of member states other than the nation being inspected.
5.
The international agency and its representatives should have no authority to issue directions to contracting states, except as may be provided in the treaty or treaties under which it is established.
6.
The size and composition of the inspectorate for any nation should be determined by the international supervisory agency.
7.
Individual members of the inspectorate should be rotated periodically by nationality and geographic location.
8.
There should be no requirement of unanimity within the agency with respect to its decisions within its defined functions.
9.
The system of safeguards, basically, should be composed of three parts:
a.
An accurate reporting by each nation of all essential elements of its military potential, and
b.
Accurate verification of reports by an international supervisory agency.
c.
Effective inspection by an international supervisory agency.
10.
The system of international safeguards should be so devised that its operations will be effective, technically feasible, and practicable, and will:
a.
Detect promptly the occurrence of violations;
b.
Minimize interference with and impose minimum burdens on the economic and industrial life of the inspected nation.
11.
Each participating state should afford duly accredited representatives of the agency unimpeded rights of ingress to and egress from, and movement within its territories; should aid and assist them in the performance of their duties, should provide access to the activities subject to inspection, and should arrange for the full cooperation of national or local authorities or private individuals.
12.
The agency will be responsible for immediate certification to the Security Council and to all participating states, for appropriate action, of serious or willful violations of a treaty or treaties providing for the regulation and reduction of armaments.

[Here follows Appendix “A,” “Discussion.”]

  1. This document was approved by the Executive Committee on July 23 and was transmitted to the United States Mission at the United Nations with instruction No. 181, July 29 (Department of State Disarmament Files).↩