Waiting for Dimona: The United States and Israel's development of nuclear capability

Matteo Gerlini is research fellow at the Machiavelli Centre for Cold War Studies at the University of Florence. His current research involves the political history of nuclear energy and the international history of Mediterranean countries. He is participating in research projects at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Pompeu Fabra University, CSDC of Florence University.

Abstract

The article analyzes the American Government's approach to Israel's development of nuclear capability during the end of Eisenhower's second term. It reviews, in particular, the December 1960 diplomatic crisis between the US and Israel, and points out how during the peak of the crisis the outgoing administration reported to the Israeli Government serious concern regarding the possibility of a pre-emptive attack by the Arab States motivated by intelligence and press leaks on Israel's nuclear programme. According to United States documents, an Arab attack could have occurred if the Israelis had refused to open the Dimona nuclear site for inspection to confirm the peaceful nature of the plant. It is possible to assert that the inspections were more of a political tool for the Arabs than a genuine effort to deny Israel the ability to achieve nuclear weapons.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the Centre for Complex Dynamics Studies and the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze for a research grant on the dual-use and nuclear proliferation studies, which facilitated the completion of this article.

Notes

Matteo Gerlini is research fellow at the Machiavelli Centre for Cold War Studies at the University of Florence. His current research involves the political history of nuclear energy and the international history of Mediterranean countries. He is participating in research projects at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Pompeu Fabra University, CSDC of Florence University.

 [1] ‘Can you say that this is the same level, when they [Iran] are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6170845.stm (viewed on 12 December 2006).

 [2] Cohen, ‘Nuclear Ambiguity and the Media’.

 [3] As Zaki Shalom pointed out, there is a difference between nuclear option and nuclear capability. Shalom, Israel's Nuclear Option, viii.

 [4] Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 195–217; Aronson and Brosh, The Politics and Strategy, 41–60; Barnaby, The Invisible Bomb, 3–21; Barrett, The Greater Middle East and the Cold War, 144–8; Ginor and Remez, Foxbats over Dimona, 28–35; Karpin, The Bomb in the Basement, 168–95; Shalom, Israel's Nuclear Option, 11–21. Cochran, ‘Israel Nuclear History’; Dowty, ‘Nuclear Proliferation’; Hough, ‘Israel's Nuclear Infrastructure’; Jabber, ‘Israel Nuclear Option’; Little, ‘American Orientalism’, 94–103, Shikaki, ‘The Nuclearization Debates’; Shlaim, ‘The Iron Wall’, 241–248; Wenger, ‘Recipe’.

 [5] The New York Times, 14 May 1966, 3.

 [6] Pinkus, From Ambivalence to Unofficial Alliance; about France nuclear policy, Vaïsse, La France et l'atome; ‘Le choix atomique de la France’; about Fourth Republic relations with Israel on the atomic issue, Pinkus, ‘Atomic Power to Israel's Rescue’; Karpin, The Bomb in the Basement, 74–95; Schillo, ‘La Politique française à l'égard d'Israël, 1946–1959’, 911–26, 978–1010.

 [7] Digital National Security Archive (hereinafter DNSA), Foreign Service Despatch from Tel Aviv, 26 August 1960, The National Security Archive, 2008; a part of these actions are summed up in DNSA, Post Mortem on SNIE 100-8-60, 31 January 1961.

 [8] Alteras, Eisenhower and Israel, 304–15; Levey, Israel and the Western Powers, 80–100; Hahn, ‘The United States and Israel in the Eisenhower Era’; Tal, ‘Seizing Opportunities’.

 [9] Di Nolfo, ‘The Cold War and the Transformation of the Mediterranean’; Aronson, Israel's Nuclear Programme.

[10] Bar-Zohar, Shimon Peres, 216–19; Golan, The Road to Peace, 51–66; Peres, Battling for Peace, 165.

[11] Central Intelligence Agency, FOIA Electronic reading room, Case Number F-1997-00389, CIWS: Middle East Developments, 22 December 1960 (viewed on 10 January 2007). www.cia.gov; INTERNET.

[12] Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 25–40.

[13] Bar-Zohar, Ben-Gurion; Aronson and Brosh, The Politics and Strategy, 44–60; Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 11–14.

[14] Public Record Office, Foreign Office (hereinafter FO) 371/121822, More information. Co-operation on nuclear research between Israel and France, 1956.

[15] Yaqub, Containing Arab Nationalism; Takeyh, The Origins of Eisenhower Doctrine; Ben-Zvi, Decade of Transition.

[16] Levey, Israel and the Western Powers, 83–90.

[17] Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 44–65.

[18] In that same year the CIA's National Intelligence Estimate about nuclear production in various world nations, placed Israel at the same level of China and Australia as nations that could produce their first nuclear weapon in the following 10 years, or even sooner, depending on the external support received. National Intelligence Estimate 100-6-57, Nuclear Weapons Production in Fourth Countries – Likelihood and Consequences, 18 June 1957, Washington, National Security Archives (hereinafter NSA), in Burr, National Intelligence Estimates (NSA).

[19] Richelson, Spying on the Bomb, 241.

[20] Cooperation with other nations in the peaceful uses of atomic energy, NSC 5431/1 13 August 1954, RN 1335, in NSA (ed.), Presidential Directives on National Security From Truman to Clinton (from now on PDNS), Washington 1994, no. 424, fiche 111.

[21] Archive of International Atomic Energy Agency, TA/ISR-10 (1960–1966), Industrial applications of radioisotopes; TA/ISR-4 (1960–64), Request for equipment to be used in a project for monitoring environmental control.

[22] Aronson and Brosh, The Politics and Strategy, 61. About France Nuclear Programs: Mongin, La Bombe Atomique; Scheinman, Atomic Energy.

[23] Francis Perrin, Haut Commissaire à l'Energie Atomique, Note 2k 128, remise au Président de Gaulle, le 29 Juillet 1959, Documents diplomatiques français (hereinafter referred to as DDF)-1959, Tome II (1er juillet-31 décembre), Paris 1995, no. 69 and note, 175–8; Vaïsse, La Grandeur, 621; Bar-Zohar, Shimon Peres, 190.

[24] The texts of the agreements have not been declassified; nor are they mentioned in the Communication du Ministère des Affaires étrangères à l'Ambassade d'Israël [note no. 2 to the document], Paris, 1er août 1960, DDF-1960, Tome II (1er juillet–31 décembre), Paris 1996, no. 57, 183–4; the terms of the clauses of 1957 are recognized in the Note du service des Affaires atomiques, Paris, 25 juin 1964, DDF, 1964, Tome I (1er janvier–30 juin), Bruxelles 2002, no. 279, 649–50.

[25] Péan, Les deux bombes, 109–10; Pry, Israel's Nuclear Arsenal, 10.

[26] Buffet and Nuti, ‘Dividing the Atom’; Bundy, Danger and Survival; Jervis, The Meaning of Nuclear Revolution; Schrafstetter and Twigge, Avoiding Armageddon; Tannenwald, The Nuclear Taboo; Wenger, Living with Peril.

[27] Spiegel, The Other Arab–Israeli Conflict, 67, the month is not indicated.

[28] FO 371/142379 More information research into atomic energy in Israel, 1959, quoted in Aronson and Brosh, The Politics and Strategy, 66–7, and Levey, Israel and the Western Powers, 127.

[29] Levey, Israel and the Western Powers, 126.

[30] United States National Archive (hereinafter referred as USNA), RG 59, General records of the Department of State, Lot No 57D688, Box 417, Atomic energy commission, memorandum of conversation 19 March 1958, Lease of special nuclear material to Israel; Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 81.

[31] Karpin, The Bomb in the Basement, 359.

[32] Karpin, The Bomb in the Basement, 83; Richelson, Spying on the Bomb, 248–51; Karpin, The Bomb in the Basement, 153–4; Hersh, The Samson Option, 55–67; according to Shalom Dimona was ‘probably’ detected by U-2: Shalom, Israel's Nuclear Option, 11.

[33] DNSA, Telegram from Tel Aviv to Department of State, 24 December 1960 (571).

[34] Memorandum of conversation, 10 March 1960, in Foreign Relations of the United States (hereinafter referred to as FRUS), 1958–1960, Volume XIII, Washington 1992, no. 131, 280–88.

[35] Vaïsse, La Grandeur, 622; Karpin, The Bomb in the Basement, 168–77.

[36] The National Intelligence Estimate (9 September 1960) on the ‘problem of the fourth country’, in which no trace of Israel can be found in the declassified parts, is not very helpful for understanding these changes because, as William Burr explains: ‘The CIA excised all references to Israel from this NIE; in contrast to its decisions on NIE 100-2-58 [the prior NIE], the Agency followed its more routine procedure on the Israeli nuclear question.’

[37] Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library (hereinafter DDEL), Christian Herter Papers (hereinafter CHP), Box 13 Telephone calls, conversation with Ambassador Houghton in Paris, 11 January 1960.

[38] DNSA, NIE 4-3-61, 21 September 1961.

[39] DNSA, Foreign Service Despatch, from Tel Aviv to Department of State, 26 August 1960.

[40] DNSA, Airgram to Tel Aviv, 20 September 1960.

[41] DNSA, CIWS: Middle East Developments 22/12/1960.

[42] Central Intelligence Agency, FOIA Electronic reading room, Case Number EO-1998-00231, The French–Israeli Relationship, 26 January 1961 (viewed on 10 January 2007). Available from www.cia.gov

[43] DNSA, Post Mortem on SNIE (quoted in note 9); DNSA, Telegrams from Paris to Secretary of State: 24 and 26 November, 1 December. Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 86–7; Gomberg was just one of the US scientists that visited or worked in Israel: Eugene P. Wigner of Princeton, Hilliard Roderick of AEC or Thomas Stiz are just some examples: DNSA, Telegram from Paris to Secretary of State, 16 December 1960.

[44] Karpin, The Bomb in the Basement, 146–50; 166–7.

[45] Post Mortem on SNIE 100-8-60.

[46] The French–Israeli Relationship; according to History of United States Interest in Israel's Atomic Activities, extensively quoted in Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 95–7, the meeting about the construction of the reactor ‘near Beersheva’ was addressed on 2 December.

[47] DDEL, Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 95–7ibid [italics added].

[48] DDEL, CHP, Box 13, Telephone calls, Friday, 9 December 1960.

[49] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel (3), Telegram from Tel Aviv, 3 December 1960 (486); before this telegram, it was Bergmann's speech about Ben-Gurion's intention to release a statement on second reactor: DNSA, Department of State Memorandum of Conversation, 1 December 1960.

[50] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel (3), partly declassified, Authority NLE 2005-40 *2, NLDDE date 12/18/2005, Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Israel (441); the classified version appeared in FRUS, 1958-1960, Volume XIII, no. 178, 393–4.

[51] FO 371/149586.

[52] DDEL, CHP, Box 13, Telephone calls, Friday, 9 December 1960; also Cohen, Israel and the Bomb and Hersh, The Samson Option make references to the leaks.

[53] DDRS, CK3100082796, Suggested guidance for Chairman McCone's use, Memorandum of Conversation 17 December 1960; DNSA, Meet the Press, Sunday 18 December 1960.

[54] John W. Finney, ‘US hears Israel moves toward a-bomb potential’, New York Times, 19 December 1960, 1.

[55] United Press International (Israeli sector), ‘Israel Denies Report’, New York Times, 19 December 1960, 8. There were no other reports on these relations.

[56] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel (3), 12 January 1961. Memorandum of Conversation with President, 19 December 1960.

[57] John W. Finney, ‘US Misled at First on Israeli Reactor’, New York Times, 20 December 1960, 1, 15.

[58] Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, 20 December 1960, in FRUS, 1958–1960, Vol. XIII, no. 180, 396–9.

[59] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel (3), Telegram, Herter circular (888), 21 December 1960; FO 371/149586; Ministère des Affaires Etrangers, s. Amerique, s.s. Etats-Unis, Relations avec Pays d'Afrique et du Levant, 442, Israël 1952–1963, Télégramme à l'arrivée: Beyrouth le 21 décembre 1960; Rabat le 22 décembre 1960; Tel Aviv le 22 décembre 1960; Beyrouth le 24 décembre 1960; Tel Aviv le 31 décembre 1960.

[60] Black and Morris, Israel's Secret Wars; Teveth, Ben Gurion Spy.

[61] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel (3), Telegram, Reid to Secretary of State (559), 21 December 1960.

[62] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel (3), declassified, Authority NLE 2005-41 *2, NLDDE date 8/12/2006, Telegram, Herter to Ambassador (470), 21 December 1960.

[63] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel (3), Proposed oral statement to press, 22 December 1960.

[64] DDEL, CHP, Box 13, Telephone calls 22 December 1960.

[65] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel (3), Telegram, Herter to American Embassy Amman etc., Circular (889), 22 December 1960.

[66] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel, Telegram, Reid to Secretary of State (577), 24 December 1960.

[67] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel, Telegram, Reid to Secretary of State (590), 28 December 1960.

[68] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel, declassified, Authority MR 2005-42 1*, NLDDE 7/5/2005, Telegram, Herter to Ambassador (502), 31 December 1960 (Section 1); the partly classified version appeared in FRUS 1958–1960, Vol. XIII, 399–400.

[69] Bar-Zohar, Ben-Gurion, Vol. 3, 1391; an interpretation of different view of the five question is in Cohen, Israel and the Bomb, 68–9.

[70] Shalom, Israel's Nuclear Option, 18.

[71] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel, Message from OSD Wash. DC. 14 c Israel nuclear reactors, 6 January 1961.

[72] DDEPL, CHP, Box 13, Telephone calls, Friday, 6 January 1961.

[73] DDEL, Records of White House Staff Secretary, International series, Box 8: Israel (3), declassified, Authority NLE 2005-41 *1, NLDDE 12/8/2006, Telegram, Herter to Amembassy Paris (2821), 6 January 1961.

[74] Karpin, The Bomb in the Basement, 201.

[75] Memorandum of conversation between Herter and Ambassador Harman, 11 January 1961.

[76] ‘Summary of Additional Recent Information on Israeli Atomic Energy Program’, Letter From the Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations (Macomber) to the Executive Director of the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy (Ramey), Washington, 17 January 1961, FRUS 1961–1962, Vol. XVII, no. 3, Enclosure, on-line volume.

[77] Jabber, Israel Nuclear Option; Bahgat, ‘Israel and Nuclear Proliferation in Middle East’; Evron, Israel's Nuclear Dilemma, 35–78; Cohen, ‘The Last Taboo: Israel's Bomb Revisited’.