335. Editorial Note
Chairman Khrushchev, speaking in Berlin on July 2, 1963, expressed Soviet “readiness to conclude an agreement on the cessation of nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water.” He also contended that “it would be advisable straightaway, when an agreement on the cessation of nuclear tests is concluded, to take also another big step towards the relaxation of international tension”: conclusion of a non-aggression pact between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries and the Warsaw Pact countries. For text, see Documents on Disarmament, 1963, pages 244-246.
At a meeting of the National Security Council on July 9, according to the summary record, “Secretary of State Rusk said our objective is to continue to try for a comprehensive test ban treaty, accepting a three-environment treaty only as a first step.” Rusk also raised the question of defining “underground tests and atmospheric tests in such a way as to make clear when an underground test becomes an atmospheric test.” Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Director Foster replied that definitions of these tests were contained in the draft treaty (which banned tests “if such explosion causes radioactive debris to be present outside the territorial limits of the State” conducting the test). Seaborg stated that “our present underground tests would be legal under this definition.” For text, see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, volume VII, pages 779–785.
[Page 713]Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Harrimanʼs instructions for his mission were issued the following day. “Our judgment that a test ban treaty is in the national interest rests on two grounds. First, it may be a significant first step toward the halting of the arms race and thus reduce international tensions. Second, and more important, it is an indispensable first step toward the limitation of the further diffusion of nuclear weapons.” The instructions continued, “Khrushchevʼs speech makes it unlikely that we can reach agreement with the Soviets on a comprehensive treaty at this time. Therefore, we should seek an agreement banning testing in three environments along the lines of the August 27, 1962, draft treaty.” Harriman was also instructed to separate the non-aggression arrangements proposed by Khrushchev from the test ban treaty and other disarmament matters. For text of the instructions, see ibid., pages 785–788. For text of the August 27, 1962 draft treaty, see Documents on Disarmament, 1962, volume II, pages 804-807.