Survey of NATO Nuclear Storage Sites in Europe

S/AE [Special Assistant to the Secretary for Atomic Energy and Outer Space] Philip J. Farley [and] EUR [Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs] William R. Tyler to G – [Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs] Mr. Johnson, “Survey of NATO Nuclear Storage Sites in Europe,” 5 April 1962, Secret

From: S/AE – Special Assistant to the Secretary for Atomic Energy and Outer Space
To: [Mr.] Johnson

Subject: Survey of NATO nuclear storage sites in Europe

A Defense/AEC team has been established to make an on site survey of storage sites for U.S. nuclear weapons in support of non-.s. NATO forces. This trip is to start on April 9 and will inspect sites in Turkey, Greece, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. The purpose of the survey is to determine the adequacy of security of U.S. nuclear weapons in the custody of the U.S. in support of non-U.S. forces in NATO. The survey, according to the terms of reference laid down by Dr. Gerald Johnson, will be limited strictly to security considerations, and to discussions with U.S. personnel.

The trip, which arises in part out of concerns expressed by the JCAE in their 1961 ad hoc Subcommittee report over the security of U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe, is intended to survey U.S. procedures and practices for safeguarding nuclear weapons in pursuance of Defense Department responsibilities. Thus the trip is essentially a Defense Department responsibility. AEC has been invited to participate and has designated Dwight Ink and two other representatives. The Department as you know has at Defense’s invitation named an officer to go along as an observer. The JCAE has indicated an interest in sending an observer, and a Staff member, Mr. John Conway, has been invited to participate.

In informal conversations with Mr. Conway we have learned that he does not wish to confine his participation to observing the survey to be made of detailed and specific aspects of U.S. security procedures and practices. He feels that it would not be worth his while to so limit his activities. He wishes to take advantage of the survey mission to follow up on matters considered by the JCAE during its 1960 trip and on which they made recommendations for corrective action with a view to determining what progress has been made to correct the deficiencies they found in the safeguarding of U.S. nuclear weapons. Mr. Conway thus appears to wish to canvass the full range of the so-called Holifield report recommendations. He has not told us, beyond one or two examples, of the kinds of subjects he would wish to inquire about. He has indicated that he would like to talk to both U.S. and Allied personnel about matters of concern to the JCAE.

Source:

Link:

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/23733-s-ae-special-assistant-secretary-atomic-energy-and-outer-space

Internal Link:

https://surinamepress.com/wp-content/uploads/1962/04/Survey-of-NATO-Nuclear-Storage-Sites-in-Europe.pdf

Date:
April 5, 1962
Categories:
Nuclear Warfare, Nuclear Weapons “on Dutch soil”
Tags:
Boxes:
National Security Archive
Years:
1962
Persons:
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META DATA

State Department officials Farley and Tyler briefed U. Alexis Johnson on the ongoing plans by the Defense Department and the Atomic Energy Commission to survey nuclear weapons storage sites in NATO countries and check on the adequacy of custody arrangements for weapons that would be made available to non-nuclear NATO countries in a military emergency. The Netherlands was one of the NATO countries that would be surveyed, along with Italy, Germany, and Greece.

One of the purposes of the survey was to address the concerns raised by a subcommittee of the congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (JCAE) in its major report on nuclear weapons arrangements in NATO Europe. Toward that end, the survey group would include a JCAE staffer, John Conway, who could determine how much progress had been made in following up recommendations made in its report.

It is not clear whether the survey group actually visited the Netherlands because its report focused on the Jupiter missiles in Italy and nuclear weapons arrangements in West Germany. Nevertheless, on page 24 of the report there is a reference to Dutch personnel, probably one of the battalions in West Germany that had trained for the use of Honest John missiles deployed there.

Source
RG 59, Central Decimal Files, 1960-1962, 740.5611.4-562

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