646 Foreign Relations, 1958-1960, Volume IX



    The Secretary said he agreed. He thought that we must be prepared
to deal with limited situations without all-out war. He believed that
within a short time there would be small atomic weapons which could
be used in such situations. At the present time, with the danger of fall-
out, it was difficult to use such weapons in friendly areas. Moreover,
there was a danger that radioactive particles would be blown back to
our side of the line. The Secretary pointed out that the importance of
continued testing of nuclear weapons lay in the possibility of the devel-
opment of small, clean weapons. Mr. Strauss asked if the Secretary
meant that these weapons would operate by fission. The Secretary said
that he did.
    The Secretary said that he felt the development of small clean weap-
ons would change the situation. At the present time, it is very awkward.
If there were, for example, an incursion into the Federal Republic, we
would be confronted with the choice of attempting to repel it with the
use of conventional weapons or by employing the full force of our nu-
clear weapons, with the consequence that Moscow, Washington and
other major population centers would be destroyed. The Secretary said
he did not know whether military experts had fully accepted the con-
cept which he had outlined, but he had expressed it in an article which
he had recently written for Foreign Affairs. l In conclusion, the Secretary
said he agreed with Mr. Strauss that the British trip-wire theory was not
acceptable.
    Mr. Strauss said that he had told Mr. Spaak that Great Britain was
defended along the Elbe and not along the Channel. The British forces in
Germany were there for the protection of Great Britain and not for the
protection of Germany. However, he thought the whole concept of
forces defending a particular area was erroneous. He thought the pur-
pose of the NATO forces was to prevent war.
Financial Support of United Kingdom Forces in Germany
    The Secretary said he was not clear as to the status of the discus-
sions on the financing of British forces in Germany, but he hoped very
much that the problem would be satisfactorily settled. Mr. Strauss said
that he hoped it would be, but stressed that the Germans could not ac-
cept the ideas of the British White Paper on defense.
Nuclear Weapons
    Mr. Strauss expressed his concern that the effort of the British to de-
velop nuclear weapons would lead to the development of these weap-
ons in other countries. The next country would be France. He said that


    ' "Challenge and Response in United States Policy," Foreign
Affairs, October 1957,
pp. 24-43.