Date

Sep 26, 1975

Description

In this memo the Joint Staff expressed its doubts about the implications for nuclear weapons policy of the proposed positions on laws of war. Besides raising earlier concerns about policy toward reprisals, the Joint Staff noted that it was not “feasible” to apply the Protocol’s provisions for the protection of civilians “in the event of general nuclear war.” Some of the articles in Parts III and IV could be read as “prohibiting nuclear weapons,” according to the Joint Staff, unless the United States took a clear and emphatic position on this matter. Also raising problems was an article referring to “long term major health problems,” which had implications for the effects of nuclear fallout, such as genetic effects. That provision, in the Joint Staff’s view, called for additional language stating that “provisions of the Protocol dealing with methods and means of combat are not intended to affect nuclear weapons.”

Source

RG 59, George H. Aldrich Records, box 7, Human Rights in Armed Conflict 1975

Document published in following posting(s):

Nuclear Weapons and the Law of War

Jun 6, 2023