DEPARTMENT OF STATE Memorandum of Conversation
DATE: February 4, 1952
SUBJECT: Registration of Defense and Base Rights Agreement with the U.N.
PARTICIPANTS: The Secretary C - Mr. Bohlen L - Mr. Fisher UNA - Mr. Hickerson EUR - Mr. Bonbright G - Mr. Holting RA - Mr. Wolf
COPIES TO: Above participants; RA - Mr. Parson.
The Secretary said he had read the memoranda on this subject and asked for further discussion.
Mr. Fisher stated that it was the view of L that our obligations under Article 102 of the UN Charter required that agreements for base rights be registered with the UN. He pointed out that in most cases we had been able to draft "cover agreements" to which publicity could be given without raising questions of military security and urged that this procedure be followed in all cases.
Mr. Bonbright pointed out that some of the nations did not wish to have either publicity or registration with the UN connected with the granting of base rights.
Mr. Bohlen referred to the many important politico-military arrangements, such as "Operation trigger" being developed under NATO, which we did not propose to register. He also pointed out that should we need base rights in Turkey, we probably, from the political point of view, would not want any agreement published.
Mr. Fisher said that the need for agreements on base rights stemmed from the point of view of the Defense agencies, particularly Air Force, that some formal agreement was necessary in order to support the expenditure of U.S. funds on U.S. military bases abroad.
It was noted that the Norwegian agreement now under consideration would lead toward Starting approval and hence to publicity of the "cover" part thereof. The
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Secretary stated that he tended to believe this was unfortunate. Mr. Bohlen stated that he believed a rather serious problem would arise in obtaining Starting approval of the "cover" agreement. The Secretary stated that he thought that publishing only "cover" agreements might lead to questions as to the details of arrangements supporting them.
Mr. Bohlen remarked that there were parts of certain agreements, such as our agreement for Moroccan bases which we would not like to have published. He emphasized that the U.S.S.R. has not registered military or base rights agreements, but only their general treaties with the satellites.
Mr. Holting noted that although the Danes had registered the Greenland cover agreement, there would still be similarity of pattern if we adopted the policy recommended in Mr. Bonbright's memorandum in that we would be stating that, from our point of view, registration was not required, but that publicity could be given as host countries desired.
The Secretary inquired as to agreements outside the North Atlantic Treaty area, referring to Brazil and the Near East. There was general understanding that such agreements, as well as a proposed agreement with Spain, not coming under the shield of the North Atlantic Treaty, would in any case require registration of at least a "cover" agreement with the UN.
Messrs. Hickerson, Bohlen, Bonbright, and Holting urged that we take the position that, in view of Article 3 of the North Atlantic Treaty, further agreements need not be registered with the UN.
Mr. Fisher stated that as a legal matter he was unable to concur that our obligations would be complied with under that theory.
The Secretary stated that it was his interim view that we should probably be guided by the policy concerned, but that he wished to explore this problem further, perhaps in the N.S.C. on February 6th. He stated that he did not think we should approach other countries with regard to informing them of this policy until he had confirmed his thoughts on this matter.
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