DECLASSIFIED Aumo wm Mn up ST GOVERNMENT 53337- Cl Du Memorandum 3 pr Weighing MW August 13 1963 T0 NEA - Mr t a iron FROM NE Harrison - - ymmes a 6 i3 SUBJECT Your Meeting with Mr Killick British Embassy at 10 15 3 Wednesday August 1h On instructions Mr Killick will ask about U S views of Israel's current intentions in atomic energy and will inquire whether we might not Jointly do smething more with France to keep Israel on a leash In part the British approach is motivated by a desire to keep in close touch with the U S on this problem but they were disturbed by the recent conduncr tion of high-level U S and French expressions of concern as to Israel's intentions Apparently the Secretary spoke in terms of personal concern to Lord Home in Ottawa no record was made of this Subsequently Couwe de Murville said much the same thing In fact we have sought to keep in close touch with the British on this at the working level Crawford-Wright After hearing Killick out you might note this and cement as follows on the specific concerns 7 did We have no new information about Israel's intentions and we assumE- - they are interested in developing the technological competence which won allow them to switch to weapons production on short notice if some time in the future they felt this essential to their national survival But so far there is no evidence that they are following a path leading spe- cii ically to weapons develOpmt Were they to do so we think they could reach the end of the path in terms of a crude explosive device in about two years The estimate of this is of itself a matter of concern He would not presume to Judge what the Secretary had in mind but the aware- ness of this estimate coupled with the public clamor about foreign scien- tists and weapons developments on both sides has heightened concern Indeed this deserves and receives our closest attention and we remain glad to share our thoughts fuuy with the At the moment our efforts continue to be bent on regularizing arrangements with the Israelis for U S access to Dimona There is rea- sonable hope that we will succeed As the ILK is aware we do regard secret unilateral 11 8 inspections as a final solution In th se we share the U K '3 view that our goal must be acceptable IAEA safeylards In another dimansion and both of these must be regarded a i confidential information we have sought high-level French co on the nature of such French safeguards inspection as go along with D ana It wish in 3 0 Downgraded at 12-year intervals Not automatically declassified nw HQOLD- l 75ByMbae 3 3 13le DECLASSIFI ED Authoriryu It will be interesting to see how forthcoming the French are There may he factions in the French Government which are genuinely concerned about Israel's intentions but there are also very strong ties with Israel in other quarters which probably place strict limits on the extent to which France under De Gsulle would see this in the same way that we and the U K do we look forward to continued contact with the British Embassy on this problem mammarauford ebb 8 1u 63 h l This document is from the holdings of The 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