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November 2021

The ACRS Working Group Oral History Roundtable

On 3-4 November 2021, on the heels of the 30th anniversary of the 1991 Madrid Conference, the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) and the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NPIHP) at the Wilson Center hosted a virtual roundtable as part of their 1990s Arms Control and Regional Security (ACRS) Working Group oral history project. The event convened around 20 former ACRS delegates from key regional and extra-regional states for an in-depth exchange on their personal recollections from the ACRS process. In four sessions, which were conducted virtually over two days, participants revisited: the genesis of ACRS; the format and process of the ACRS Working Group; fault lines and inflection points during ACRS; and its successes, failures, and lessons learnt from the process.

September 4, 1969

Record of Meeting between Minister Aichi and Premier Kosygin

Japanese Foreign Minister Aichi and Soviet Premier Kosygin discuss bilateral relations, disputed territories, the legacies of World War II, China, and the NPT.

June 7, 1981

Memorandum for Mr. Richard V. Allen from L. Paul Bremer, III, ‘NSC Discussion Paper: Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Cooperation’

On 7 June 1981, the day of the Osirak raid, a policy paper composed by the ‘Senior Interagency Group on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Nuclear Cooperation’ (SIG) was submitted to the NSC. The discussion paper crowned the administration’s nonproliferation efforts as a “key foreign policy objective” and called to revise the 1978 NNPA.

December 1, 1980

Recommendation for the Reagan Administration Nonproliferation Policy

Following Reagan’s election in November 1980, his transition team in charge of nuclear matters called for a clean, dramatic break from the policies of the outgoing Carter administration. As for relations with the IAEA, a vital component of the policy, the ACDA paper argued that Washington should employ the agency as an agent to achieve its nonproliferation goals. The IAEA and the NPT were to be “further strengthened and given greater U.S. support.” To reinforce U.S. influence over the agency, it was recommended that “support to the IAEA in the form of financial contribution, manpower and technical advice should be increased significantly.

October 28, 1966

The Issue of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in the Conversations of Comrade Gromyko with US Government Officials During the 21st Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA)

This document includes accounts of several conversations between Soviet officials and US diplomats, including Andrei Gromyko for the Soviets, and Dean Rusk and Arthur Goldberg for the Americans. The most pressing topic discussed during these meetings was figuring out mutually acceptable language to mollify Soviet demands that the NPT contain explicit prohibitions on the transfer of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear countries not just directly but through a military alliance, namely, NATO, remembering previous US attempts to nuclearize NATO through the Multilateral Force (MLF). Some attention is paid to fears not just of the Soviet Union but the US and other NATO allies as well about the FRG acquiring nuclear weapons. In addition to the focus on the semantic differences in the Soviet and American drafts of the NPT, the document emphasizes that one key area of common ground between the Soviets and Americans is the importance that an agreement be reached sooner rather than later before more countries acquire nuclear capabilities.

November 22, 1966

Correspondence Delivered to G. M. Korniyenko by D. E. Boster

This correspondence between Davis Boster and Georgy Kornienko recounts Boster's impressions of where US-Soviet negotiations on the NPT stand after reading Kornienko's report of a conversation with the US chargé. Boster summarizes areas of common ground between the US and the Soviets while also expressing the hope that what he describes as semantic differences over whether to explicitly prohibit transfers of nuclear weapons to a group of countries do not impede the achievement of a nuclear non-proliferation agreement. Boster closes by expressing the hope and willingness to continue negotiations in New York and reach an agreement.

November 22, 1966

Correspondence, 'To Forward to the Members of the CPSU CC Politburo and Candidate Members of the CPSU CC'

A note from D.E. Boster translated into Russian from the English. This correspondence references a previous conversation with the temporary Charge d'Affaires, John Gatry, about the NPT.

November 22, 1966

Reception of the US Chargé d'Affaires in the USSR (Gatry) on Nov. 18, 1966: Note to be Distributed to CPSU CC Politburo Members and Candidate Members

This note to be distributed to the Central Committee of the USSR describes a conversation between Andrei Gromyko and US Chargé d'Affaires regarding the Americans' proposed language in Article I of the NPT. Gromyko shared the concern of the Soviet government that the American draft as it stands says nothing about prohibiting the transfer of nuclear weapons under joint control to an alliance or group of countries, and that the Soviet government wants to close off all means through which to proliferate nuclear weapons. Gromyko raised other concerns with the American draft and requests that Gatry notifies the US government and Dean Rusk of their conversation with the hope that Soviet concerns can be addressed appropriately.

November 22, 1966

Concerning Roshchin's Conversation with Foster on November 17, 1966

This note summarizes a conversation between Alexei Roshchin and William Foster concerning Foster's views on individual provisions of the Soviet draft of the NPT, with Foster's primary concerns pertaining to Article I. The main issue of contention between the Soviet and American drafts is whether to explicitly prohibit the transfer of nuclear weapons on a group basis or within an alliance, as the Soviets desire, but to which the Americans do not want explicitly stated in the Treaty. Roshchin conveyed the readiness of the Soviets to continue discussions on Article I, to which Foster's response that he would need to coordinate with the White House on the official posture of the US government toward the new Soviet language on the issue.

May 27, 1968

Memo of the CPSU CC Regarding the Account of Proposed Amendments to the NPT by Non-Nuclear States by the Soviet Delegation to the UN

This memo discusses several amendments proposed by various non-nuclear countries during the First Committee of the UNGA, and the Soviet delegation's amenability to adding amendments and clarifications to the NPT so long as the essence of the Treaty is not altered or undermined. Some of the topics of the proposed amendments include the strengthening of sharing nuclear technology and research on nuclear energy and other peaceful uses of the atom and international observation as it pertains to peaceful nuclear explosions. Attention is also paid to when further negotiations on peaceful nuclear explosions will take place, relaying the difference in Soviet and American opinions on what the optimal timing of those negotiations would be but, ultimately, the Soviet government's desire, first and foremost, to have the NPT go into effect as soon as possible.

Pagination