---
category: Nuclear Scientists & Programs
summary: Dale objected to the policy change after the 1967 Six-Day War, when Walworth
  Barbour ordered the embassy's military attachés to stop reporting on Dimona and
  to no longer undercut the Israelis by conducting operations with their British or
  Canadian counterparts.
tags:
- Person
- Nuclear
- Israel
---

William N. Dale served as the deputy chief of mission at the American embassy in [Tel Aviv](/places/tel-aviv/), [Israel](/places/israel/), arriving in 1964. He was given wide latitude in the day-to-day management of the embassy and encouraged his staff to investigate [Dimona](/places/dimona/). Dale, along with the embassy's scientific attaché [Robert T. Webber](/people/robert-t-webber/), drafted a highly classified dispatch to [Washington, D.C.](/places/washington-dc/) summarizing their intelligence that [Israel](/places/israel/) was getting ready to put warheads into missiles. This report, which Dale considered the embassy's most definitive on [Dimona](/places/dimona/), received no response from Washington.[^1]

Dale objected to the policy change after the 1967 [Six-Day War](/events/six-day-war/), when [Walworth Barbour](/people/walworth-barbour/) ordered the embassy's military attachés to stop reporting on [Dimona](/places/dimona/) and to no longer undercut the Israelis by conducting operations with their British or Canadian counterparts. This disagreement soured their relationship, and Dale remained convinced that his stance on [Dimona](/places/dimona/) set back his career.[^1]

In the fall of 1967, [Henry A. Kissinger](/people/henry-a-kissinger/), then a [Harvard University](/organizations/harvard-university/) professor and consultant on [Vietnam](/places/vietnam/) to the [Johnson](/people/lyndon-b-johnson/) administration, visited [Tel Aviv](/places/tel-aviv/). He sent an urgent, top-secret message to the White House through Dale, warning about [Dimona](/places/dimona/) and concluding that [Israel](/places/israel/) was making nuclear warheads. Dale also recalled Kissinger's warning: "I'll have your ass if this gets out."[^1]

After leaving [Israel](/places/israel/), Dale attempted to raise questions about [Dimona](/places/dimona/) with senior government officials in [Washington, D.C.](/places/washington-dc/) and later with the [State Department](/organizations/state-department/)'s Policy Planning Council, but his efforts were met with resistance and warnings not to discuss the issue publicly. His final paper on nonproliferation did not mention [Dimona](/places/dimona/).[^1]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 12.