GUIDANCE REQUEST: ALLEGATION USG SOUGHT TO TEST

C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 000685


SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP AND PM
SECDEF FOR OSD J.POWERS
PACOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2018
TAGS: MOPS PINS PREL AS
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE REQUEST: ALLEGATION USG SOUGHT TO TEST
NERVE GAS ON AUSTRALIANS

Classified By: Charge D'Affaires Daniel A. Clune. Reasons: 1.4(b),(d)


1. (U) This is an action request - please see paragraph 4
below.


2. (SBU) Australian newspapers, quoting recently declassified
Australian government documents, carried stories over the
July 4 weekend alleging the U.S. Government had asked the
Australian government in 1963 to permit aerial testing of VX
and GB sarin nerve agent on Australian troops in Queensland.
According to the stories, the U.S. proposal included a
request that the GOA conceal the nature of the testing,
including from the troops on whom they would be conducted.
The Australian government at the time did not respond to the
U.S. request, according to the press stories.


3. (C) At the Embassy's request, staff of Defence Minister
Joel Fitzgibbon, currently in Hawaii and en route to
Washington, provided a background paper used to brief the
Defence Minister that includes further details (see full text
at para 5 below.)


4. (C) ACTION REQUESTED: Embassy requests guidance for
possible use in responding to media inquiries. Defence
Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has indicated he will raise this
issue during his forthcoming visit to the United States,
possibly including during his July 8 call on PACOM Commander
Keating and during his call next week on Secretary Gates. In
addition, although no press had contacted the U.S. Embassy as
of COB July 7, we anticipate the need for guidance to respond
to press inquiries over the coming days, particularly for a
previously-arranged radio interview of the Charge in Adelaide
July 9 on a range of topics.


5. (C) Following is the text of the background paper provided
by Defence Minister Fitzgibbon's staff:

Begin text:

Nerve Gas test plans

Regarding widespread reporting - The Australian, SMH, Sunday
Program, Advertiser 07/07/08 - that recently declassified
National Archive documents reveal an American plan to test
Nerve Gas on Australian Defence Force members during the Cold
War.

Background

Recently declassified documents held by the National Archives
contain information that the US wanted to test Nerve Gas on
Australian soldiers at the height of the cold war.

The Australian reports that under the plan, 200 Australian
combat troops, presumably wearing 1960s-era chemical
protection suits, were to be subjected to aerial bombardment
in the Iron Range rainforest near Lockhart River in far north
Queensland. The Australian also reports that the plan is not
believed to have been acted upon.

The nerve agents were to include VX and GB, better known as
sarin nerve gas. The aim of the tests was to gauge the
effectiveness of nerve agents in jungle warfare at a time
when US military involvement in Vietnam was intensifying.

The US proposal is alleged to have made by US defence
secretary Robert McNamara in July 1963, according to Defence
Department and Prime Minister's Office documents.

The documents stated that of the 200 troops to be used in the
tests, "only four to six would need to know the full details
of the operation".

The US proposal is reported to have recommended that the
Australian government keep the nerve agent tests secret,
describing them as either "equipment testing" trials or "land
Qdescribing them as either "equipment testing" trials or "land
reclamation" experiments.

The Australian reports that the Australian government is
believed to have not responded to the initial US proposal in
1963, but in 1966 Washington approached the new prime
minister, Harold Holt, with a request to drop tear gas on
Australian troops. Reports say that again, Canberra quietly
ignored the request.

A former Holt staffer told the Sunday Program that the then
Government was concerned that its Cold War alliance with the
US would be damaged if it refused to allow the tests.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, who was Minister for
Army from 196668, denied knowledge of the US requests.

COMMENTS BY MINISTER FITZGIBBON - 06/07/08

"(It is) difficult to believe any such request came forward,
but if it did, surely it would have been rejected by the
conservative government of the day out of hand".

"I have asked Defence for an urgent and full briefing on this
matter. I can certainly rule out any such testing in the
future."

New lines for the Minister:

--I am aware of reports that the United States sought to test
nerve gas in Australia during the 1960s.

--I am advised that the United States did seek Australian
agreement to conduct experiments using chemical agents in Far
North Queensland, as they had no suitable sites available in
areas under their control.

--I am advised that in 1964, the Cabinet agreed it was not
appropriate to allow such trials to be carried out in
Australia and agreed to advise the United States of this
decision.

--I am advised this information is available on the public
record. Relevant cabinet papers were released in the
mid-1990s under the provisions of Archives Act, 1983.

--I am advised the United States was made aware of the
pending release of this information in 1994.

--I have asked the Department of Defence for an urgent and
full briefing on this matter.

End text.

CLUNE