The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) determined how the United States federal government would control and manage the nuclear technology it had jointly developed with its wartime allies (Britain and Canada). Most significantly it ruled that nuclear weapon development and nuclear power management would be under civilian, rather than military, control, and established the United States Atomic Energy Commission for this purpose. It was sponsored by Senator Brien McMahon, a Democrat from Connecticut who chaired the United States Senate Special Committee on Atomic Energy whose hearings led to the fine-tuning and passing of the Act.
The Act passed through by Senate unanimously by voice vote and by the House of Representatives 265-79 and was signed by President Harry Truman on August 1, 1946 and it went into effect on January 1, 1947.
One of the provisions of the Act was a strict ban on the release of atomic technology to other powers, even to allies. This served to galvanize countries such as the United Kingdom, which had supplied personnel and information to the Manhattan Project team into constructing their own nuclear weapons.
The provisions of the Act were substantially modified by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.
The stipulations contained in the Act have caused significant controversy during debates over NATO's military command structure.[1] Both Striking Fleet Atlantic and the United States Sixth Fleet have never been allowed to be placed anywhere but directly under American commanding officers - the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic and Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe, because the dominant legal interpretation of the McMahon Act has been that nuclear striking forces cannot be controlled by non-US commanders. This was the reason for the formation of Striking Fleet Atlantic as an independent entity, instead of being operationally subordinated to the UK Admiral serving as Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Atlantic, in October-November 1952.[2] This was also the reason why the Sixth Fleet, in its NATO guise as Naval Striking and Support Force, South, was placed under American control rather than Allied Forces Mediterranean when the European commands were agreed at the same time.[3] The Act was also probably a factor in the American refusal to allow a French officer to take command of Allied Forces Southern Europe in 1997.
Born Secret
The McMahon Bill was submitted to Congress on December 20, 1945. Under the heading “Purpose of Act,” the second item was “(2) A program for the free dissemination of basic scientific information and for maximum liberality in dissemination of related technical information.”
Section 9 of the bill was titled “Dissemination of Information.” It called for release of nuclear technology information “with the utmost liberality as freely as may be consistent with the foreign and domestic policies established by the President.”
However, by August 1, 1946, when the Atomic Energy Act reached President Truman for signature, the new second purpose was “(2) A program for the control of scientific and technical information . . .,” and Section 9 was gone, replaced by a new Section 10, “Control of Information.” This new section contained the novel doctrine later described as “born secret” or “classified at birth.” It defined a new legal term “restricted data” as “all data concerning the manufacture or utilization of atomic weapons, the production of fissionable material, or the use of fissionable material in the production of power,” unless the information has been declassified. The phrase “all data” included every suggestion, speculation, scenario, or rumor—past, present, or future, regardless of its source, or even of its accuracy—unless it was specifically declassified.
This restriction on free speech, covering an entire subject matter, is unique in American law. It is still in force.[4]
References
- ^ Maloney, Sean M. Securing Command of the Sea: NATO Naval Planning, 1948–1954, University of New Brunswick thesis, 1991
- ^ Maloney thesis, 1991, p.234-241, 246-7
- ^ Maloney thesis, 1991, p.291-294
- ^ Cardozo Law Review, Vol 26, No 4, March 2005, p 1401, posted at http://www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/cardozo.pdf)
External links
- Text of the passed McMahon Act (PDF, scanned from the Congressional Record)
- Text of the submitted McMahon Bill (re-typed as HTML)
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