J^ U; THAILA.^ MNISTER
FOR PRESS 1 April 1979
US ARTICLE ON HYDROGEN BOMB
To-day's edition of the Sunday Observer . states that
" Classified information on how to make a hydrogen bomb has been
circulating in ' Melbourne". It also reports that " the information,
in the form of a 40 page article, including diagrams; wa:
deposited in a Melbourne bank vault after it was given to the
Sunday Observer". The Sunday Observer acted responsibly and c. elivered
that newspaper's copy of the article to the Government.
The Government has confirmed that the copy received
from the Sunday Observer is the article that a United States
magazine was recently restrained by injunction of a F] ede:-al
Court from publishing in the United States.
It is understood that the U. S. Secretary Energy
Mr Schlesinger in an affidavit filed in the proceedi. ngs in the
U. S. Court stated that publishing the article would irreparably
impair the national security of the United States by making
available to foreign nations secret, restricted data pertaining
to the design and operational characteristics of a thermr)-nuclear
weapon. Mr Schlesinger also said that the information in the
article would enable countries, which do not now have a thermonuclear
capac: i. ty, t. o 1 l. op such weaponsj in a Jhori. l,( r Li. i.: than
W.# l. d otherwise be pos. sible.
S iThe Sunday Observer claims that at l. est one other
copy of the article is known to be in Australia
Our technical advisers agree with the asse:; sment of
the United States authorities and Australia shares thhe U. S.
Government's concern.
Against that background, the Government is satisfied
that publication of the article might well be useful to assist
the acquisition of nuclear weapons by additional countries.
Australia is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and
is committed to pursuing nuclear arms controland non-proliferation
objectives as a member of the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva.
The Government's position is clear and unequivocal.
Consistent with the principles which I outlined in my
statement to the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament in
New York on 5 June 1978, an essential element in nucl. ear arms contro
is preventing the acquisition of nuclear weapons by additional
countries. This involves the security of all Austral. ians and
indeed of all the world. Proliferation triggers furTher
proliferation causing instability and risk for all.
Publication of the article will, in the judgment
of the Government, be prejudicial to the safety or defence of the
Commonwealth. It is my duty to make the people of Australia
aware of this judgment. A . general obj. c. ction to secrecy in the area
of nuclear weapons provides no justification for publication of this
material. . Any person who may have possession of a copy of the
article and who may be contemplating its publication must understan,
clearly that dissemination of this material can only 1b projudi(; ci
to Australia.