DECLASSIFIED ----fll-t rtH fi ff1 n Authority I tJD 151000 rn1ftttH ' SECRET 1lJ J 1 10 CL- 365 DEPARTMENT OF STATE MemoronJum 01 Conversation NO DISTRIBUTION EYES ONLY SUBJECT PARTICIPANTS December 29 1966 DATE German Concern Over Draft NPT Text H E Heinrich Knappstein Ambassador German Embassy Berndt von Staden Counselor German Embassy The Secretary Alexander C Johnpoll Acting Country Director or Germany EUR GER COPIES TO e r- ' cn SIS 000 G AmEmb BONN AonEmb MOSCOW White House EUR ACDA r-- Io S RGBPVlEW removed lra u fcrrod 10 O FADRC Cat B - Trct lafeONd to O FADRC with addiHonal access conlroliod hy SIS Cat C - Caption and c us1odr B'Yi d D d by S P- GBP C 4- 7r Ambassador Knappstein called on the Secretary this af nQQP At the AmpRBsador'r request He explained that Chancellor Kiesinger had called him back to Bonn for consultations and that he would leave Washington on January 2 The main purpose of the consultations was to brief Chancellor Kiesinger on the current status of the NPT negotiations The Foreign Office had prepared a preliminary legal analysis of the partial text and interpretive comments we had provided and on January 11 the German Cabinet will meet to discuss the matter The Foreign Office preliminary legal analysis of the NPT material was causing the FRG some concern The Germans fear that most if not all of the available options for participation in nuclear defense would be closed Any hope for a future MLF or ANF would be finished Sharing of non-nuclear parts of nuclear weapons the McNamara Committee and the two-key system would all Beem to be prohibited EVen peaceful use of nuclear devices would apparently be barred which would be dangerous to the future of Euratom The draft text could be used to stop the process of European integration If a United States of Europe were in the distant future to emerge as a new State it is not incon- ceivable that the NFT as presently drafted could be used to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons Knappstein said that the Germans recognized that their fears might be unfounded L The Federal Republic Government has not formulated any policy or reached any firm conclusions It was still in the process of studying the problem He thought that it was particularly important that the Russians be nailed down to flI fi finlrr UJl JillJl l SECRET I This dooument OOnaiS S ot _ _pageJ I IIW1lbero ot - oopies Series-- _ l L GROUP 1 F xoluded from automati0 downgrading and deolassification 0 0 IU171 DECLASSIFIED Authorily lUll I 1 700 2 interpretations of the text so that they could not in the future use the NFT against our common objectives Ambassador Knappstein suggested that two steps were now necessary for the German Government the United States should show a complete text to the Germans particularly Article II and there should be a meeting between experts from both sides to study the text closely The German experts would identify the parts which they don't understand fully or which cause concern and the American experts would clarify those parts The Secretary said that we would welcome such Q meeting of experts and hoped that it could take place as soon as possible preferably before the January 11 German Cabinet meeting He accepted Foreign Minister Brandt' suggestion that the Germans send their experts to Washington for this purpose It would be necessary of course that this be done without any publicity whatever The Secretary said that we had no doubt at all that the NFT text we have in mind would not affect the two-key system the McNamara Committee or the right of a future federated European State to possess nuclear weapons Delivery systems would not be barred and some type of ANF could be worked out If a European defense community were to be created its nuclear interests would be protected by the five-year review clause and the withdrawal provisions The Secretary said that our recent talks with the German Government on this subject were part of our consultations with the FRG and the 4 NATO members of the Geneva Conference prior to any agreement with the Soviet Union The Secretary said that he agreed there should be a clear common interpretation of the NFT There is no point in haVing a treaty that only serves to conceal differences He said that he had the impreSSion that while the Soviet Union still felt some concern about the FRG it was less focused on Germany these days and more worried as we are over countries like India China and JapanJ and over the amount of plutonium lying around Verification will be an important problem and this will bring in the problem of Euratum and its relations with IAEA The Secretary at this point gave Knappstein an informal memorandum recapitulating the information that had already been delivered to the German Government He told Knsppstein that while this paper did not answer all the questions he had raised it would be useful to the Germans in their current study Knappstein thanked the Secretary and promised to let us know when the German experts would be coming here He thought that Schnippenkoetter would come with one or two of his assistants and he would urge on his Gpvernment that this take place before the January 11 Cabinet meeting SECRET                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu