Message to the Congress Transmitting Annual Report of U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

To the Congress of the United States:

I am transmitting the Fifth Annual Report of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

This report describes a year of intense negotiation and research. It reveals an increased seriousness on the part of many nations toward the problems of arms control and disarmament.

In 1965, under the increasing pressure of the nuclear threat, arms control and disarmament was taken up at the first meeting of the United Nations Disarmament Commission in five years; at the Eighteen Nation Disarmament Committee in Geneva; in the fall session of the 20th General Assembly; and in private diplomatic exchanges.

In all of these activities the United States' position benefited from the thorough research and careful preparations of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, carried out under the authority granted it by the Congress.

This research and preparation has been carried out on a wide variety of problems-from weapons inspection to the economic consequences of reductions or shifts in military spending. In all this work our guiding principle has been the long-range security of the United States, which inevitably involves the long-range peace and stability of the world.

HALTING THE SPREAD OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

During 1965 the concern of the world turned increasingly to the vital question of preventing nuclear weapons from becoming standard equipment in the world's arsenals. We are approaching a critical period in efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Many countries now have the resources, the technical ability and the scientific manpower needed to build nuclear weapons systems. We hear voices saying that these countries can afford such costly weapons, even though they would have to be bought at the expense of the basic needs of their people.

I have committed my administration to the task of persuading the non-nuclear countries that it is neither in the interests of their security, nor of world peace, to develop nuclear weapons. This has been the main thrust behind the efforts of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency during the past year, and it will continue to be in the year we are now entering.

On January 27, 1966, I presented to the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament at Geneva a seven-point program designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, to halt the nuclear arms race, and to reduce nuclear stocks. I have instructed our negotiators to walk the extra mile necessary to insure that the weapons of war submit to man's need for peace.

In giving these instructions, and in transmitting this report, I reaffirm my belief that it is possible through reason and through patient effort to translate the world's common interest in survival into concrete acts of restraint and accommodation between the nations.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

February 15, 1966