Interview with Joseph Nye, 1987

Joseph Nye was Deputy to the Undersecretary of State for Security Assistant, Science and Technology, and chaired the National Security Council Group on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1977 to 1979). (In the 1990s, he served as chair of the National Intelligence Council, and as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.) The interview begins with his views on the Atoms for Peace program and the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963. Much of the interview deals with his work on the nonproliferation issue under President Carter. He is asked about the Indian test, the oil embargo and its effects on proliferation, including administration worries about international pressures to reprocess plutonium. As a result, the U.S. decided to pressure other countries against reprocessing, and to forego it as well as an example. Dr. Nye then discusses the mostly negative impact this had on allies such as the French and Germans who had arranged supply deals with the likes of South Korea and Pakistan. The Japanese, he recalls, were also unhappy. He describes the purposes and impact of the International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation, and the Carter administration’s unilateral Nuclear Nonproliferation Act of 1978, which also met with negative international reactions. Most of the rest of the interview deals with specific countries – Pakistan, Libya, India, Israel and South Africa. He asserts that the U.S. had less information available about Israel’s program than was desired, including whether it was assisting Pretoria’s program. He also reacts to the Israeli attack on Osirak, and discusses various current problem areas for nonproliferation. He closes with a comment on the London Suppliers Group.