The 1958 Revision of East-West Trade Controls Mutual Defense Assistance Control Act of 1951 TWELFTH REPORT TO CONGRESS For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office C5-177167 Transfer to storage 4-2892 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL To the Congress of the United States: As the Administrator of the Mutual Defense Assistance Control Act of 1951 (Battle Act), I am submitting herewith the twelfth report on operations under the Act. This report is devoted mainly to a description of the revision of security trade controls in 1958. Dorges Dillon DOUGLAS DILLON, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs. APRIL 20, 1959 III THE INTERNATIONAL LIST REVIEW Review of U.S. Economic Defense Policy During the period covered in this report, the United States conducted an extensive and careful study of all items under international security export control to the Sino-Soviet bloc. Related problems were also examined. This review preceded an expected meeting of the Coordinating Committee (COCOM) in Paris, which was subsequently convened for the same purpose. There was general recognition by the United States and the other 14 nations participating in the multilateral trade control system' that the Soviet bloc had made considerable industrial, scientific, and technical progress since the last major revision of the program in 1954.2 The awareness of this progress, which had reduced the relative strategic significance of some items under control and had raised the strategic importance of others, prompted the decision by the United States to reexamine and reappraise the cooperative trade control concepts and operations. In accordance with the regular practice, through the established mechanism of the National Security Council, the Council on Foreign Economic Policy, and the Economic Defense Advisory Committee (EDAC), the United States Government reexamined the international security controls in all of their aspects throughout 1957. The opinion prevailed from the outset that the renovation of the control system, in the light of new conditions, would involve both 1 The 15 nations are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The strategic trade controls of these countries are adjusted and coordinated by the Coordinating Committee (COCOM) and its parent organization, the Consultative Group (CG), which meet in Paris. The structure and functions of the Paris organization were described in the Ninth Battle Act Report, The Strategic Trade Control System, 1948-1956, especially pp. 17-20. 2 See the Fifth Battle Act Report, The Revision of Strategic Trade Controls. |