Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Agreement on Exchange of Atomic Information With NATO and Member Nations

To the Congress of the United States:

On May 16, 1964, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, jointly recommended to me, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, a proposed new agreement to provide for cooperation in the exchange of atomic information with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its member nations.

The new agreement will supersede an existing agreement executed in 1955, and will do two things:

a. It will extend the types of information which we can exchange with NATO. This expanded area of information is needed to enable our Allies to make effective use of nuclear delivery systems being provided them by the United States under bilateral procedures and agreements following creation of NATO atomic stockpiles in 1957.

b. It will permit NATO member countries to share in information which the U.S. has hitherto been exchanging only with the NATO organization itself under the 1955 agreement. This will make these countries' role in alliance planning in the nuclear field more effective.

This new agreement thus represents a logical and useful step in our continuing and varied efforts to ensure wider Allied participation in NATO nuclear defense. Such wider participation is necessary on both military and political grounds. It is needed to enhance the effectiveness of NATO defense. On political grounds, it is needed to reinforce NATO cohesion by meeting our Allies' legitimate desire to make a constructive contribution to nuclear defense.

Therefore, I have authorized the Secretary of State to execute this new agreement between the Government of the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its member nations to provide for the cooperation relevant to the exchange of atomic information for NATO planning purposes.

In accordance with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, I am submitting to each House of the Congress an authoritative copy of the signed agreement, together with a letter from the Secretary of State, a copy of the joint letter from the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission recommending my approval of the agreement, and a copy of my approval memorandum.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON