Tuesday, February 7, 2023
  • About us
    • Write for us
    • Disclaimer
    • Terms of use
    • Privacy Policy
  • RSS Feeds
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
DefenceTalk
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
DefenceTalk
No Result
View All Result

US secretly helped French nuclear program

by Agence France-Presse
May 26, 2011
in Nuclear Weapons News
3 min read
0
US secretly helped French nuclear program
14
VIEWS

The United States secretly helped France develop advanced nuclear weapons in the 1970s as part of a bid by the Nixon administration to sow divisions in Europe, declassified US documents showed.

Henry Kissinger, the senior aide to President Richard Nixon and apostle of realpolitik, is quoted as saying that he wanted to make the French “drool” and think they could compete with Britain, weakening efforts for European unity.

France first tested an atom bomb in 1960 in the Sahara, becoming the fourth nation after the United States, Soviet Union and Britain to go nuclear as President Charles de Gaulle tried to project France as a great world power.

The United States under three presidents refused atomic cooperation with France as it worried about de Gaulle’s foreign policy and feared he was setting off an arms race that would lead the divided Germanys to seek nuclear weapons.

The declassified documents confirmed suspicions that Nixon quietly shifted course after entering the White House in 1969, concluding the United States could not stop France’s program and should instead use it as leverage.

The documents were obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University and the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Skirting US law that prevented direct nuclear assistance to France, the Nixon administration offered “negative guidance” by telling the French if their projects were headed in the right direction, the documents showed.

The French apparently were agreeable, with Robert Galley — the defense minister under President Georges Pompidou — asking the United States for guidance on building a nuclear warhead, the documents showed.

Kissinger, then Nixon’s nuclear security adviser, said the United States would give information slowly and vowed: “I will brutalize Galley.”

“What we want is something which makes Galley drool but doesn’t give him anything but something to study for a while,” Kissinger said in a 1973 memorandum.

He complained that Britain — which was suspicious about Kissinger’s views on what eventually became the European Union — had not helped defend a key nuclear treaty between Nixon and the Soviet Union.

“The British are behaving shitty. If they know we have another option, they might buck up,” Kissinger said.

In a separate message to Nixon, Kissinger said the United States had “no obligation to bend over backward” for France. He doubted France would return to the NATO fold and complained of French policy toward Laos amid the Vietnam War.

But Kissinger concluded in another document: “We want to keep Europe from developing their unity as a bloc against us. If we keep the French hoping they can get ahead of the British, this would accomplish our objective.”

The Nixon administration was an anomaly for the United States, which has largely supported European integration as a way to ensure peace on a continent ravaged twice by war in the 20th century.

Klaus Larres, a professor at the University of Ulster who is researching the era, said that the Nixon administration was primarily concerned that the European Community would become a trade rival at a time of US economic woes.

“Previous administrations had always gone out of their way to bring the Europeans on board and push them in the integration direction. That stopped with Nixon and Kissinger, mostly for economic reasons,” he said.

William Burr, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive, said it was unclear how much France benefited from the US assistance as French documents on its nuclear program remained strictly classified.

“But the French kept asking for more, so it would suggest that they must have seen a benefit from this process,” Burr said.

The United States and France officially agreed to start nuclear cooperation in 1996 under presidents Bill Clinton and Jacques Chirac. Two years later, India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons and were punished by sanctions.

Tags: francenuclear programproliferationUS
Previous Post

Experts discuss future long-range strike bomber requirements

Next Post

WINGS – Lockheed C-130 Hercules 1/5

Related Posts

Putin to oversee Russian ‘strategic’ missile drills

US says Russia not complying with last remaining nuclear treaty

February 1, 2023

The United States said Tuesday that Russia was not complying with New START, the last remaining arms control treaty between...

DoD Aims to Shield Warfighters From Novel Biological Agents

DoD Aims to Shield Warfighters From Novel Biological Agents

January 10, 2023

The Department of Defense is modernizing its approach for developing medical countermeasures to protect warfighters from novel biological agents. This...

Next Post

WINGS - Lockheed C-130 Hercules 1/5

Latest Defense News

Air Defense Systems, Long-Range Fires Capability to be Sent to Ukraine

Air Defense Systems, Long-Range Fires Capability to be Sent to Ukraine

February 4, 2023
Beijing accuses NATO of exaggerating ‘China threat theory’

Majority of Finns want to join NATO before Sweden: poll

February 3, 2023
China, US defence ministers to hold talks in Singapore

Pentagon tracking Chinese spy balloon over US

February 3, 2023
Eurofighter Touts Typhoon Capabilities to Poland At Air Show

UK court examines legality of resuming Saudi arms sales

February 1, 2023
If US DoD Wants #ArtificialIntelligence In Its Future, It Must Start Now

AI voice tool ‘misused’ as deepfakes flood web forum

February 1, 2023
Japan defence ministry seeks $50 billion budget

NATO chief hails Japan plans to expand defence spending

February 1, 2023

Defense Forum Discussions

  • The Russian-Ukrainian War Thread
  • Indonesian Aero News
  • Royal Australian Navy Discussions and Updates 2.0
  • Australian Army Discussions and Updates
  • Warships at Piraeus , Greece
  • Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates
  • American US Army 12CAB Apaches at Gilze-Rijen Air Base [second film online]
  • Military Aviation News and Discussion
  • NZDF General discussion thread
  • USAF News and Discussion
DefenceTalk

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com

Navigate Site

  • Defence Forum
  • Military Photos
  • RSS Feeds
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com