ATOMIC ENERGY


547


Modus Vivendi of January 7, 1948 and might seriously prejudice the
present good prospects for arriving at an early agreement with the
South Africans to provide an alternate source of uranium to the Bel-
gian Congo. The Department of State feels, therefore, that it cannot
join the Department of Defense in recommending to our represent-
atives the points suggested for their guidance.
  ',.These points go to the very heart of our Tripartite relations in the
atom- ic energy field. In connection with another aspect of these re-
lations, I have noted your letter of March 16, 1950 2 referring to recent
discoveries of espionage activities in this field and proposing a meeting
Of the American side of the CPC to review the question of the exchange

of technical information with the United Kingdom and Canada. I
have also noted a letter from Mr. Pike of March 21, 1950 containing a
similar suggestion. I believe the Atomic Energy Commission has
furnished a copy of this letter to the Department of Defense.
   Since this question and that concerned with the South African
negotiations are interrelated, I ýwould like to propose that they
and
any other pertinentproblems be included in a review by the American
side of the CPC of the present status of our Tripartite atomic relations
as a whole.
  In the event such a proposal is agreeable to you, we can then arrange
for a meeting to undertake this review..
  Sincerely yours,                                   DEAN ACHESON
  Not printed.


Department of State Atomic Energy Files
Minutes of the Meeting of the American Members of the Combined
      Policy Committee,'- Vashinygton, April 25, 1950, 2 p. M.

TOP SECRET
Present: Members
             Secretary of State, Mr. Acheson
             Secretary of Defense, Mr. Johnson
             Acting   Chairman   of Atomic    Energy    Commission,
               Mr. Pike

  'The Combined Policy Committee was established under the terms of the
"Articles of Agreement Governing Collaboration Between the Authorities
of the
U.S.A. and the U.K. in the Matter of Tube Alloys [atomic energy research
and
development]" signed by President Roosevelt and -Prime Minister Churchill
at
Quebec, August 19, 1943; for the text of the Quebec Agreement, see Foreign
Relationsm, The Conferences.at Washington and Quebec, 1943 (Washington: Gov-
ernment Printing Office, 1970), pp. 1117-1119.