March 16, 1971
- Chairman

Joshua Lederberg

Honorable J, William Fulbright

U. 8. Senate Foreign Fefatfons Commi t tee
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator,

I am pleased to note that you have begun hearings on the
ratification of the Geneva Protocol, As you perhaps already know
I have been deeply concerned about biological and chemical warfare
for many years.

In this connection I have prepared the statement, copies of
which are enclosed, which I hope you may find pertinent to your
committee's deliberations, As this is in the form of a dialogue
that attempts to explore the complexities of the issues raised by
the Geneva Protocol, I should point out that I have marked off
a emall segment as the focus of the policy that I would in fact
advocate,

The article was also the basis of a lecture in an Arms Control
Course that the Department of Political Science has organized here
at Stanford and which had very enthusiastic attendance by almost
200 registered students and many other auditors,

The article is also scheduled for publication in the Outlook
Section of fhe Washington Post, probably on March 21, if not the
following Sunday. It is, nevertheless, freely available for any
purpose that you or your committee wish to make of it. I have
enclosed both a single and s double Spaced version of the type~
script for convenience in editing and reading.

The essence of the policy I advocate is that the Protocol must
be all meansz be ratified as » small but essential step towards
comprehensive control of chemical and biological weaponry, The scope
of the Treaty needs to be modernized in order to take account of the
introduction of tear gas and of herbicides as agents of war. It would
be desirable if the United States could take the initiative in the
development of a formal, international position on these innovations.
As indicated in my article, # prefered way of accomplishing this would
be the attachment of a reservation that would, in practice, become
binding on the United States if, and only if, an important majority
of other adhering countries adhered to the same reservation by
comparable formal actions, This approach to a consensus might also
be the most effective way of persuading the Administration thet the
inclusion of non-lethal chemical weapons within the scope of the
prohibition was accomplished in a way that did not leave the United
States in an untenably disadventageous position compared to other

potential users of these weapons, Sincerely yours,

LeZiadant

!

‘oC