Ben-Gurion Agrees to Dimona
Visits
(June 12, 1963)
This is a memorandum
from the Department of State Executive
Secretary, Brubeck, to the President's
Special Assistant for National Security
Affairs, McGeorge Bundy, commenting on
Israeli Prime
Minister David Ben-Gurion's offer
to allow visits to Dimona.
On April 2, Ambassador
Barbour presented to Ben-Gurion our request
for semi-annual, full-access United States
visits to Dimona to begin in May. On May
19, the President wrote to the Prime Minister
to stress the importance we attach to this
issue. On May 27, Ben-Gurion replied, agreeing
to annual visits, "such as have already taken place", beginning late this
year or early in 1964. He referred to this as the "start-up" time
of the reactor.
The several branches of the scientific intelligence community (AEC,
ACDA, CIA) agree that the Prime Minister's terms fail to meet our minimum
requirements. A reactor of this size would at the optimum be discharged
every two years if devoted to research, but at approximately six months
intervals if the object was to produce a maximum of irradiated fuel
for separation into weapons grade plutonium. For a reactor of this size,
the IAEA minimum inspection systems calls for two inspections yearly,
with far more complete controls than Israel is prepared to allow us.
A visit before the reactor goes critical is essential because a more
detailed observation of its structure is then possible than after its
operation renders certain portions inaccessible.
The several agencies agree that we could be reasonably sure of the
use to which the Dimona facility is put, if:
1. There is a June or July 1963 visit.
2. There is a June 1964 visit.
3. Thereafter, visits occur every six months.
4. Our scientists have access to all areas of the site and any part
of the complex such as fuel fabrication facilities or plutonium separation
plant which might be located elsewhere.
5. Scientists have sufficient time at the site for a truly thorough
examination.
This schedule partially meets Ben-Gurion's once-a-year stipulation.
We support it because we believe that politically it may be found acceptable.
However, it was accepted with some reluctance by our scientists, who
would prefer a semi-annual scheduling from the outset and who are also
most insistent on the need for thoroughness covered in points 4 and
5.
A proposed further message from the President to Prime Minister Ben-Gurion
is enclosed. The proposed message has been approved by the Secretary.
E.S. Little
Sources: Foreign
Relations of the United States, 1961-1963: Near East, 1962-1963, V.
XVIII. |