Expressing support for the 60th anniversary of the Polaris Sales Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Whereas President Kennedy and Prime Minister MacMillan met in Nassau, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and issued a Statement on Nuclear Defense Systems on December 21, 1962, agreeing that the United States will make available on a continuing basis Polaris missiles for British submarines;

Whereas the Secretary of State Dean Rusk and British Ambassador to the United States David Ormsby-Gore signed the Polaris Sales Agreement on April 6, 1963, in Washington, DC, reaffirming the Statement on Nuclear Defense Systems and agreeing that the Government of the United States shall provide and the Government of the United Kingdom shall purchase from the Government of the United States Polaris missiles (less warheads), equipment, and supporting services;

Whereas the H.M.S. Resolution launched the first United Kingdom’s Polaris missile on February 15, 1968, and in 1969, commenced the first strategic deterrent patrol for the United Kingdom, beginning a Continuous At-Sea Deterrent for the United Kingdom that remains unbroken to this day;

Whereas the Polaris Sales Agreement was amended for the UGM–133 Trident II (D5) strategic weapon system on October 19, 1982, in Washington, DC, through an exchange of notes between the Secretary of State Jonathan Howe and the British Ambassador to the United States Oliver Wright; and

Whereas the United States and the United Kingdom agreed to continue cooperation under the auspices of the Polaris Sales Agreement, to design a common missile compartment for both nations follow-on ballistic missile submarines through an exchange of letters in 2008 between the Secretary of Defense the Honorable Robert Oates and the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defence the Right Honorable Desmond Browne: Now, therefore, be it