‘ S 4 ' ra 3 REET He ie AS ie | # . wt STA oe Then se d, Deterrent and retaliatory weapons, including warhgads~ for second generation IRBM, ICBM, and FBM missiles .iz Va &4 e. A family of clean weapons. 4. The HARDTACK test series now underway, including the scheduled firing at Johnston Island prior to 1 September, is vital to the defense of the United States. Certain key shots, particularly those essential to the design and operational employmentof the anti-missile missile, are crucial in the weapons development program. As past tests bear out, it cannot be presumed that this test series will be a total success or will in fact provide all of the much needed answers for presently foreseen military applications. Even if the HARDTACK tests are a complete success, there will be a continuing requirement for additional testing. Cessation of testing by us at any time in the foreseeable future would freeze our weapons research at a point far short of the objectives cited above. Nioreover, if the USSR continued testing on a clandestine basis, both offensive and defensive weapons in our stockpile could quickly become obsolete. Further, it is believed that the matter of parity with, or supremacy over, the USSR may have been accorded undue emphasis in past considerations of test cessation. It is fallacious to assume that a present superiority in either numbers or types of atomic weapons would be maintained or that numerical superiority would in itself provide the free world with the capability to cope with all future situations. 5. In light of the above, the Joint Chiefs of Staff wish to emphasize their great concern over the numerous proposals for cessation of weapons tests, especially when this cessation is divorced from a larger disarmament proposal which would provide also for complete suspension of the production of weapons and weapons materials, keyed to an effective system of inspection and verification, 6. The Joint Chiefs of Staff request that you convey these views to the President, REPRODUCED AT THE DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER LIBRARY For the Joint Chiefs of Staff: , N,. F. TWINING, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. - > - > PES og gay TM vee Wet hice eeeatrhs Feira meri wes ARLEN G. :ste Raglh