FOREIGN RELATIONS, 19 5 0, VOLUME I


                         Editorial Note

  On February 2, 1950, Dr. Klaus E. J. Fuchs, Chief of the Theo-
retical Physics Division of the British Atomic Energy Research Es-
tablishment at Harwell, was arrested in London and charged with
engaging in espionage for the Soviet Union. A German-born natural-
ized British citizen, Fuchs was one of about 20 British scientists who
came to the United States in December 1943 to contribute to the
development of the atomic bomb. From December 1944 to June 1946
Fuchs worked ,at Los Alamos Laboratories where he was intimately
involved in the development of the atomic bomb and may have had
access to information relevant to hydrogen bomb development. In
1946 he returned to England to participate in the British atomic
energy program. In November 1947 he once more visited the United
States, representing the United Kingdom in a tripartite atomic energy
information declassification conference in Washington. He visited
certain atomic energy installations during his stay in the United
States.
  On February 10, 1950, Dr. Fuchs admitted in a signed statement
that he had transmitted atomic energy information to the Soviet
Union during and after the Second World War because he had been
devoted to Communism. On March 1 Fuchs pleaded guilty and re-
ceived the maximum 14 years' sentence under the British Official
Secrets Act.

Policy Planning Staff Files
Memorandum by the Secretary of State to the Executive Secretary
             of the National Security Council (Lay)

TOP SECRET                       [WASHINGTON] February 8, 1950.
  The attached questions and answers relating to the President's an-
nouncement of January 31, regarding work on the so-called hydrogen
bomb, have been prepared by the Department of State with the assist-
ance of the Department of Defense and the Atomic Energy
Commission.
   This material is not intended for publication or attribution. It is
intended solely for the background and guidance of principal De-
partmental officers and of our Missions abroad. The answers set the
limit within which comment may be made in response to questions.
The officers concerned would be instructed that no further comment
is to be made without specific authorization of the President. The
  Lot 64D563, files of the Policy Planning Staff of the Department of State,
  1947-1953.


524