§ 49. Mr. Masonasked the Prime Minister if the scientific declassification committee has yet given any indication whether the Government can now automatically announce successes of the progress of the Zero Energy Thermonuclear Assembly towards harnessing the hydrogen bomb for peaceful purposes.
§ The Prime MinisterI am informed that the Atomic Energy Authority intends at appropriate intervals to release unclassified information on their work on controlled thermonuclear fusion, as it does in other fields. As my right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal told my hon. Friend the Member for Chigwell (Mr. Biggs-Davison) on 21st January, the rules of security classification which govern the release of information are periodically reviewed.
§ Mr. MasonIs it not a really farcical situation in which a publicly-owned industry is making successes in the possible application of atomic energy and its announcements are subject to veto by a declassification committee, on which 1396 American scientists sit and American opinion is dominant, stopping those announcements? Is not that very undesirable?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir. The interchange of information between the two countries is working extremely well. As regards the precise character of the information, it is very important to make sure that in making announcements information of military importance is not given.