IV. Issues in the Interplay Between Diplomacy and Nuclear 



Technology 



Identification of a number of basic issues prominent in the U.S. 

 policymaking process and in the negotiations will help to clarify the 

 way in which technological and diplomatic factors interacted during 

 the formulation and negotiation of the Baruch proposals. These basic 

 issues will be explored to show this interaction, and also how it affected 

 the outcome of each issue. Each issue will be examined in this man- 

 ner, first in the course of the U.S. policymaking process and then in 

 the international negotiations. Special attention will be given to the 

 U.S. proposals as finally presented, the Soviet reaction to them, and 

 the outcome of the negotiations. 



Broadly, these issues all dealt with the interlocking concerns of 

 national power, human safety, secrecy of atomic technology, privacy 

 of the Soviet Union, and the potential utility of peaceful atomic en- 

 ergy. Three broad issues emerged : ( 1 ) the form of control, that is, 

 international ownership and management versus inspection ; 

 ('2) transitional stages for the establishment of international control, 

 involving transfer of control of information and nuclear production 

 facilities from the United States to the international authority; and 

 ( 3 ) the question of sanctions and the veto. 



Significance of Technological Factors for U.S. Policy 



Before these issues are discussed in detail, it might be helpful to 

 note a number of general factors of technology and diplomacy which 

 may have influenced U.S. policy and the outcome of the negotiations. 



Foremost among the technological considerations was the U.S. 

 monopoly over atomic weapons. The very nature of scientific inquiry 

 made it axiomatic that the U.S. monopoly was transitory. Acceptance 

 of this factor was a major political motivation for U.S. efforts toward 

 international control. Nevertheless, the question arose as to how the 

 United States could prevent a premature end to its monopoly and 

 thereby avoid endangering either its own security or world security 

 while an international system of control was being established. U.S. 

 policy on this question would influence the general political atmos- 

 phere surrounding the effort to establish international control. 



Among the possible measures which the United States could use to 

 protect itself and the world from proliferation of atomic weapons 

 until an international system could be set up was stringent control 

 of the dissemination of information which would contribute to devel- 

 opment of military applications of atomic energy. This idea led to a 

 persistent popular misconception regarding the "secret" of the atomic 

 bomb: 



Many of the semantic difficulties dated from the first 

 months of public knowledge of the wartime program. The 

 "secret" of the atomic bomb was a case in point. After more 

 than two years of efforts to explain this term accurately, use 

 of it still induced an almost automatic emotional response. 



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