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March 18, 1964

Memorandum, Executive Secretary Benjamin Read, US Department of State, 'Israel's Assurances Concerning Use of Atomic Energy'

This document was made possible with support from Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY)

This memorandum from Executive Secretary Benjamin Read of the Department of State to National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy provides a valuable chronology of the US discovery of the nuclear reactor project at Dimona and the pledges made by the Israelis in response to requests from the United States. Included in the chronology is an item about a meeting on 25 May 1963 where senior French diplomat Charles Lucet told CIA director John McCone that even though the French had helped build the Dimona reactor, “there might be a nuclear complex not known the French.” Lucet further stated that the Israelis had tried to purchase “safeguard-free” uranium from Gabon but that the French government stopped the sale through preemptive purchases.


Document Information

Source

National Archives of the United States (NARA), Record Group 59, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Records of Office of Country Director for Israeli and Arab-Israeli Affairs, Records Relating to Near Eastern Arms Initiative, box 1, Talbot in Spring 1964 & Exchange of Letters. Originally published in Avner Cohen and William Burr, eds., National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book #432 (June 25,2013).

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Original Uploaded Date

2013-06-13

Type

Memorandum

Language

Record ID

117053

Original Classification

Secret

Donors

Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY)