Uranium, Bombs and Information
The reasons for the fullest and frankest co-operation between the United States and Great Britain in all the operations leading to the production of atomic bombs are cogent and comprehensive. Within the American control is the largest deposit of skill and equipment for the production of the bomb, and within the British control, in the Belgian Congo, is the largest deposit of uranium, without which the bomb cannot be made at all. There is no complete monopoly on either side. The British Government announced some sixteen months ago that it intended to produce bombs, and the American Government can obtain a certain amount of uranium in Canada and elsewhere. But dearly common sense points to a joint effort rather than separate projects. Military con- siderations lead in the same direction. Whether bombs are produced in Amcrica and kept thcrc, or whether they are produced and kept bete, or whether they are produced in one place and kept in the ether, quick action, whether in offence or defence, requires the most compkte liaison. It goes without saying that scientists on both sides of the Atlantic can only eMploy their skill and energy to the best advantage if they have common access to all essential information. And if there is genuine unity between Britain and the United States in the defence of common values then there is certainly no room for misunderstanding at this one vital point. Nor, despite the cloud of rumours which arose after the Blair House meeting last Thursday at which President Truman consulted his closest advisers on atomic matters, is there any public sign of a serious quarrel. The story that the British authorities were bargaining for more American help in the manufacture of bombs here in return for a new contract for Congo uranium (the old one expires this year), is too crude to be true. British officials in Washington have repeatedly denied that there is any such difficulty. Indeed, it is hard to believe that the British Government is so set on the production of atomic bombs here, or the American Government so set on guarding its share of knowledge that any serious difference between them can long endure.
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