x \ onl ~ 5l- VII. Regardicss of American decisions concerning retontion of its present secrets, other powers besides Britain and Canada will be producine the bombs in quantity in a period of five to tan years. This proposition of course ignores the possibility of cffective regulation of bomb production being imposed by international action within such tine period, A discussion of that possibility is left to subsequent chapters. One may antic- ipate that discussion, however, to the extent of pointing out that there is Little to induce nations like the Soviet Union or France to agree to such regu- lation until they can start out on a2 position of parity with the United States-parity not alone in bembs but in ability to producc the bomb. In omycase, what we are primarily concerned with in the present discussion is not whether other tion to do so if they choose, i went fp > nations will actually be producing the bomb but whether they will be in a posi-~ | . Statcnents of public officials and of, joxenalists indicate an enormous cone fusion concerning the extent anc charactor of the seerct now in the posscssion of the United States. Opinions vary from the observation that "there is no scerct" to the blunt comment of Dr. Walter R. G. Bakor, Vice-President of the General Electric Company, that no nation other than the United States has sufficient wealth, materials, and industrial resources to produce the bomb. Sone clarification is discernible in President Truman's message to Congress of October 3, 1945, in which the President recomiended the establishmont of security regulations and the prescription of suitable penaltics for their violaticn and went on to add the following: "Scicontific opinion appcars to be pract~ ically unanimous that the essential theoretical knowledge wpon which the disccvery is based is already widely known, There is also substantial agreement that foreign research can come abreast of our present thecretical kmowledge in tinc." Tho omphasis, it should be noted, is on "theoretical Imovledee." o A good deal of basic scicntific data is still bound by rigorous secrecy, but such data Ko, New York Times, October 2, 1945, p, 6.