Preparations for the Summit Conference 243



US and Canada; (b) if this were not acceptable to the Soviets, then the US
was prepared to set aside certain less extensive areas of the US, Alaska
and the Soviet Union, for the same purpose; (c) a similar zone of inspec-
tion might be set aside in Europe stretching to the Urals and including
all of Western Europe; (d) possibly a more limited zone of inspection in
Western Europe could be discussed. A specific proposal on this was
never actually made at the conference, but it had been thought that this
might include an area within the longitude parallels 5°-35°.
    As to the last of the foregoing proposals, von Brentano continued,
he was not competent to discuss the technical or military aspects, that is,
whether the development of new weapons demanded a revised concept
of the appropriate area to be involved. This was a matter for the experts.
But other developments since 1957 had been such as to make some other
delimitation of area desirable; at least the question should be raised. The
doubts of the Federal Government did not proceed from false consid-
erations of prestige, but it had to be said that his Government found the
50-350 proposal very bad and distasteful. If you cut out a part of Free
Europe, principally Germany, then he feared that a psychological devel-
opment would begin which would nourish the neutralization of Ger-
many. The public would think that an inspection zone proposal was the
first step towards this objective. He did not believe it to be compatible
with the NATO concept of equality, and it would lead to the disintegra-
tion of that organization. If one asked how this could be claimed relative
to the introduction of technical measures alone, he could only reply that,
if there were some NATO countries with such inspection measures and
others without them, this would introduce an unhealthy element of dis-
crimination. It would obviously have an effect on US troop deployment,
or at least on the willingness of the US to keep the necessary equipment
for its troops within the area. Therefore the Federal Government would
strenuously object to such proposals and request that they not be tabled
in the disarmament negotiations.
    The Secretary said that it was not the intention to table such a pro-
posal in the disarmament negotiations. We wanted to talk with the Ger-
man authorities first. The President thought that such a proposal might
be a test of Soviet good faith as to whether they were really willing to
accept inspection. The question of specific areas to be involved could be
discussed. The President was thinking of having this subject raised in
the Four-Power Working Group and not in the disarmament group. We
know, the Secretary continued, that the Federal Republic has always op-
posed carving out a special area to include the Federal Republic because
of fear that it might lead to neutralization. The President was thinking
that the Soviets probably would not accept such a proposal but it would
be a good gesture, a sort of combination of the open sky proposals of
1955 supplemented by certain aspects of the 1957 proposals.