View of the Results of the North Atlantic Council Meeting of May 15Th - 17Th Ir
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* - APPROVED yiNTJTSS f. /Z A . FEC 57 FF f~C) T M ? i ■** ■■■ . ■ — â.:«*"C üefenjs FHL.rai.'j- s`c'«csiir `omîittee oevsr.tecr.th Msvting of th.- Perr-anunt narking G>taff huld at 1;..3C~a.s. or. Thursday. 1st June. i^5C. ic the Confcrcncc Rooc.7 .‘io. if. Choahan Street. London. F r e a e n t : - U.S.A. ............ Mr. K. ?. Bre ithut <Chaiman) Ur. V. Longstreet Mr. C. Hodge • • Mr. H. Mcrillat Be l g i u m ............ M. J. Deschanpa Mile. Dever Canada .... ....... Mr. A.a. Kitchie D e n n a r k ............ M. Pusck Nielson F r a n c e ............ M. R. Sergent DECLASSIFIED - PUBLIC DISCLOSURE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ - MIS EN LECTURE PUBLIQUE LECTURE EN - MIS / DÉCLASSIFIÉ DISCLOSURE - PUBLIC DECLASSIFIED M. R.P. Fc`3ty Ic e l a n d ............ M. E. Soncdik. I t a l y ............ 3r. Frcddi Col. S. Marsiliani Sr. Sasnoli Luxembourg ............ M. C. Kcisbourg Netherlands ............ Dr. J. Everts Dr. J,M. Fehmers N o r w a y ............ M. Hersleb Vogt P o r t u g a l ............ Sr. L.L. do Rego U.K. ............ Mr. J. Caimcroaa Secretariat ........... M. J.C. Debray Mr. F.P. Kelly M. P. Billecocq Mias E.A. Todd Minutes of the 13th. 15th and 16th Me et i n g s 1, Approved as amended. SECRET - 1 - è é SECRET ' FEC STAFF (50) M-17a Review of the results of the North Atlantic Council Meeting of May 15th - 17th ir. relation to current ar.d future work uf the DFEC and PVfS FSC STAFF (50) D- 16/I 2, The Chairaan opened tho discussion by informing delegates that he would be going tc Washington on Saturday, 3rd June, and would have a n opportunity to talk there with she authorities on questi ons concerning the various Committees of the North Atlantic Council and al 3o to be in contact with people who are engaged ir setting up the organization of Deputies o’’ the North Atlantic Council, The establishment of this body i3 intended, among other thinge, to create a channel for systematic liaison. He asked that delegates let him have their views, suggestions or questions that he might discuss while in Washington, and he expressed the intention of seeing as many of she delegates as possible before his departure for Washington, | • FSC STAFF (50) D-11/2 3, The Chairman aske'3. delegates if there were any particular points that night be given to the Defence Committee as guide3 in the preparation of the estimates of defence costs, He felt that the -mpcrfvnt question in this connection was not simply an overall figure but one in which the individual elements or* the estimate were identified, FRANCE 4, The French delegate pointed out the difficulty of dealing with this question until it was known how liaison with the Defence Committee was to DECLASSIFIED - PUBLIC DISCLOSURE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ - MIS EN LECTURE PUBLIQUE LECTURE EN - MIS / DÉCLASSIFIÉ DISCLOSURE - PUBLIC DECLASSIFIED be arranged and, in any case, theFTTS could only give a general indication of what they wished the Defence Committee to do. 5, The Chairman stated that he hoped that the organisation cf Deputies which is being established vould provide the P7£3 with ar. appropriate channel for liaison, ) q f t a 6, The United Kingdom delegate said that, in default of any precise KINGDOM knowledge of the nature of the Defence Plan approved by the Military Committee, it seemed impossible to do more than offer a number of general suggestions, some of -which might prove to be useful in the discussions which the Chairman was proposing to hold in Washington, He felt:« (1 ) that it was essential that the estimates of expenditures by t e various countries in connection with the Military Committee's Plan should be made or. a comparable ar.d realistic basis bearing in mind the limits imposed by physical resources and production capacity. Any detailed examination of this latter question would, of course, be for the MPSB to carry out at a later date; SECRET * • S E C R E T TEC STAFF C SO) M - 1 7 & (2) that some indication should be given regarding the phasing of the -programme in or de r - (a) to ascertain the period over which each country's expenditure on the scheme would be s p r e a d and the shape of the curve of that expenditure ; ar.d (b) to make possible a breakdown of the scheme into priorities in tine. It was also necessary that, if an attempt were made on the lines suggested, the Military Authorities should be quice certain that each itéra could be carried out as an independent undertaking and did not | • overlap with another block of vjork; (3) that there might be considerable advar.ta/e in members of the Military Coramictee seeking guidance from the financial «xperts in the Service Departments of their respective countries on the probable cost of their share of the total expenditures, 7. Much would depend, he added, on the manner In which the policy of DECLASSIFIED - PUBLIC DISCLOSURE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ - MIS EN LECTURE PUBLIQUE LECTURE EN - MIS / DÉCLASSIFIÉ DISCLOSURE - PUBLIC DECLASSIFIED balanced collective forces would be .-‘.:>plied. If, aa a result of this policy, Atlantic Fact countries were a.le to effect considerable economies in t h e i r defence expenditure, the gap between existing resources av aJLlable for the defence of the Atlantic area and the targets recommended oy the Military Coramittee would clearly be reduced, 3. The Chairman said that he v.-ould certainly bear in mind in hi3 discussions in Washington the points made in the course of the present meeting. In particular, hie observed thit at the North Atlantic Council meeting great stress was placed oa the adoption of general principles arrd that emphasis ’«as given to this lattor point precisely because there wa| belief that balanced collective forces v/erc essential in order to make < possible the meeting of strategic requirements without serious jeopardy to sound economic conditions, F E C S TAFF ( 50 ) I M 2/1 9. Noted, FEC w rAFF (50) D-13 . 10, It was suggestod that the Chairman take uo with the appropriate people in Washington the matter of co-ordination ^mong MAT bodies. SECRET - 3 - SECRET FSC STAFF (50) M-17a 11. A suggestion was made. that the Secretariat sight produce a p a p e r rerrering various problems on ’*hEch the DFSC requires information ar direction. After further discussion it was agreed that preparation of such a paper should he deferred until more precise information is available on the Deputies organisation« FEC STAFF f 50) D - 1 5 Attachment III 12, The Chairman said that it vas clear franc thi3 (Resolution U/Q) that the North Atlantic Council is anxious for -•ark to proceed with scrae of the tasks outlined by the FTîS Priority ~ork Projects. Report of Meeting of Joint Liaison Croup (MPS3 and DFEC) 13. The United States delegate who serves as one of the FES representatives on this Group =ade a report on the first meetir^j hold on 11th May of the Secretaries and the designated representativee of the Permanent forking Staffs of the HFEC and MFS3, 14, He said that discussion had taken place on the question of li a i s o n with the Military in the development of the reply to the DFEC request for a statement of costs of the defence programme with priorities. Tho representatives cf the F7S MPS3 indicated that there v ä s l a o k of clarity in the liaison arrangements on tho military side and that one of tho chief questions is liaison between the London agencies and the S t a n d i n g Group in 'Washington. This question has been raised with the Standing Group on v/hcra the next step depends. There appeared to bo two obstacles; namely, sheer distance and the difficulties of selecting a small group DECLASSIFIED - PUBLIC DISCLOSURE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ - MIS EN LECTURE PUBLIQUE LECTURE EN - MIS / DÉCLASSIFIÉ DISCLOSURE - PUBLIC DECLASSIFIED that could adequately represent a F^S consisting of delegates of twelvo countries. It was suggested that further discussion by the Joint L i a i s o n Group on the subject might be postponed until after the meetings of the Nortli Atlantic Council (May15-16-17) '/hich it was understood would take up the problem of liaison within NATO. 15» The Joint Liaison Group also discussed the document MFSB (50)8 transmitted to the DFEC F!»S. This document which deals principally with deficiencies and capacities wa3 discussed by the ?WS DFEC at their 13th Meeting. It is under constant revision by the Regional Groups and tho S t a n di n g Croup, so far as deficiencies arc concerned, to take account of Medium Term plans 3ince the preliminary figures arc caaputcd on the basis of requirements through 1952 fox* forces now in existence. In fact, tho subject is being given continuous 3tudy by the MPSB. The opinion was expressed at the Joint Liaison meeting that further studies rill probably not alter the main conclusion readied on the basis of MFSB (50)8 that a Large amount of unused capacity exists for mooting deficiencies and that the main problem is that of financial resources. 15 .. Another document discusscd was FEC STAFF (50) D-14/1 which gives figures fear additional military production for 1952. It ’.vas generally folt that it would be desirable to rcconcilc the differences between these figures and those developed by the DFEC on additional military production.