On 6 July 1961, French Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville sets out the French position on disarmament in a telegram to Hervé Alphand, French Ambassador to Washington. According to the French Foreign Minister, the Western powers should draw up a series of disarmament measures that correspond to the current state of weapons and strategic thinking. The main focus should be on an approach to nuclear disarmament that includes measures on new nuclear weapons carrier vehicles. The French Government also advocates the idea of gradual disarmament in successive stages and suggests that the Western powers should promptly address any specific problems. On the matter of nuclear weapons, Maurice Couve de Murville emphasises that France cannot contemplate a ban on nuclear testing without taking decisive steps to convert existing stocks for peaceful purposes. The government is not in favour of the US ‘no first use’ proposal — a pledge not to use nuclear weapons unless first attacked — as it would affect Western strategy.