Evening star., 1959-06-07
Conspiracy for Survival

kS/ 80 VsVS
Judging from his latest remarks on
the subject, Senator Hubert Humphrey
suspects that there is some sort Of con-
spiracy afoot in the Pentagon to "scut-
tie" the months-old Anglo-American-
Soviet effort (Which resumes tomorrow
in Geneva) to negotiate an agreement
for total ban on nuclear testing.
With all due respect to Mr.. Hum
phrey, this is ridiculous point Of view.
For the fact Is that the Defense Depart
ment, far from plotting against the idea
Of such ban, appears to have been
much too receptive to 1t until very re-
Gently. Actually, II one wishes to discuss
this enormously complicated problem in
sinister terms, the real "conspirators,
the dissenters, the men who have the
gravest misgivings about an all-out
prohibition Of atomic-hydrogen expert
mental detonations, constitute rather
large company of highly knowledgeable
and distinguished neutrality-suspicious..
These men, to name but few,
include Representative Holifield, Sena-
tor Gore and former Atomic Energy
Commissioner Thomas e. Murray, who
now serves as consultant to the Joint
Congressional Committee dealing with
nuclear affairs. They are emphatically
opposed to total testing ban under
present conditions, and II their opposi-
ton is to be described as conspiracy"
then let us all hope that 1t will succeed.
For the alternatives completely un-
justifiable American acceptance Of a
total ban based on Soviet promises and
on the inadequate system of on-site po-
Icing proposed by British Prime Minis
ter Macmillan-could be a mortal threat
to our safety and survival as q free
Nation.
Let none Of US underestimate the
menace. As Mr.. Murray has warned in
his two-part memorandum to the Joint
Committee, "The Macmillan type Of
control would create the illusion Of con-
troll without the reality" and its ac-
ceptance could lead to an unmitigated
disaster for the United States and the
free world as a whole. This is so for
the following primary reason: "The
simple fact is that an accurate detection
system for nuclear explosions does not
exist d. most evidence points to in
creasing rather than decreasing diffl-
Guilty in detecting underground nuclear
explosions. . The United States would
be recklessly trusting the good. faith Of
the Soviet Union in the face Of all the
historical evidence that the term good
faith has no meaning in the Soviet
vocabulary"
In other words, an all-out testing
ban at this stage would be dangerous
gamble for our country. Definitive proof
Of that point, according to Mr.. Murray.
can be found In our Governments still
secret Berkner report on policing sys-
tems-a report making clear that clam
deStine underground detonations could
easily be set on (and not only in Red
China) without being detected The
same holds true, apparently, for expert
mental nuclear shots at very high alti-
tudeS. The only exceptions are the
familiar above-ground atmospheric ex-
ploSions, which cause health h-endanger-
ing radioactive fallout and which are
readily detachable. These latter can be
prohibited without any peril to our ma
tional security.
AS for the other tests, however, the
tests that cause little or no fallout, the
story is quite different There is no sure
way, at present, Of detecting them, and
If our Government entered upon a SOL
emn agreement to stage no more Of
them, the United States, without having
any real guarantees against Soviet vio-
lations or evasionS, would debar itself
from the development Of small, "clean,"
discriminating and potentially revolu-
tionary nuclear weapons. Further, it
might debar itself from experiments
vital to the production Of an antimissile
missile that could spell the difference
between life and death for our country.
Certainly, in such circumstances,
there is reason to welcome the kind of
conspiracy" that Mr.. Humphrey has
deplored. In our view, the President
should be unyielding on this point. In
keeping with his April 13 proposal, he
should instruct the American delegation
at Geneva to insist upon strictly lin
tied prohibition-one that would rule
out only the atmospheric tests, and not
the others that conceivably may stop
Mr.. Khrushchev from "burying" us.