ATOMIC ENERGY                          503

 that the British could never agree to forego the production plants
 which would be necessary to support a production of industrial appli-
 cation should any be developed on a combined basis, and insistence
 on this by the U.S. representatives would appear to have the sole
 effect of making any collaboration impossible.
                                                 ADRIAN S. FISHER
                                                 R. GORDON ARNESON

 PM Files'
 Memoranduim    by the Executive Secretary of the National Security
               Counciml (Lay) to the Secretary of State 2
 TOP SECRET                            VWASHINGTON, January 19, 1950.

 Subject: Development of Thermonuclear Weapons83
   At the direction of the President, the enclosed copy of a memo-
 randum from the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the subject, which has been
 transmitted to the President by the Secretary of Defense, is furnished
 herewith for information in connection with the study on this subject
 by the Special Committee of the National Security Council.
                                                  JAMES S. LAY, JR.

                                [Annex]

 Memorandum by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Secretary of Defense
                              (Johnson)

TOP SECRET                            "WASHINGTON, 13 January 1950.
Subject:   Request for Comments on Military Views of Members of
     General Advisory Committee.
   The Joint Chiefs of Staff have studied the memorandum from your
 Deputy for Atomic Energy Matters dated 14 December 1949,4 together

 Files retained by the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of
 State.
 ' Copy also transmitted to David E. Lilienthal, Chairman of the United States
 Atomic Energy Commission.
 I On November 19, 1949, President Truman designated the Secretary of State,
 the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the United States Atomic Energy
 Commission as a sipecial committee of the National Security Council to advise
 him on the question of whether the United States ,should develop thermonuclear
 weapons. For the President's directive and documentation regarding its implemen-
 tation, see Foreign Relations, 1949, vol. i, pp. 587 ff. For additional
information
 on the question of developing the hydrogen bomb, see Hewlett and Duncan,
Chap-
 ters 12 and 13; R. Gordon Arneson, "The H-Bomb Decision," Foreign
Service
 Journal, May 1969, p. 27, and June 1969, p. 24; and the U.S. Atomic Energy
Com-
 mission, In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Transcript of Hearing before
 Personnel Security Board, Washington, D.C., April 12, 1954-May 6, 1954 (Wash-
ington: Government Printing Office, 1954).
  'The memorandum under reference has not been found in the files of the
Department of State. Robert LeBaron was Deputy for Atomic Energy Matters
to Secretary of Defense Louis A. J~ohnson.