April 29, 1938
 
 
My dear Mr. Secretary:
 
 
Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of April 16, 1938,
in further reference to the matter of exportation of helium
under the terms of the Helium Act of 1937, Public Law No. 411,
and regulations promulgated as extensions of this Act.
 
 
The regulations which were considered, and later adopted, by
the National Munitions Control Board, and the Secretary of the 
Interior, and were promulgated by the Secretary of State in 
September 1937, were referred to the Navy Department for 
consideration, with special reference to military safeguards. 
In the opinion of this Department these regulations are adequate 
to safeguard the interests of National Defense.
 
 
Your letter refers to the March 10, 1938, amendments to the 
January 14, 1958, sales regulations. Prior to the adoption of
these amendments, the Navy Department was not consulted.
 
 
In attempting to appraise the possible military values of 
helium, factors are encountered which are impossible, to evaluate 
on a monetary basis. Helium in itself is not any more a military 
commodity than, say, fuel oil. Helium in the transportational sense 
is the means of sustentation of lighter-than-air craft. Due to its 
reduced lifting power, helium actually results in a craft having
inferior performance over the same craft if filled with hydrogen. 
For military purpose hydrogen is, in the opinion of many, superior 
to helium. If a lighter-than-air craft is pierced by sufficent 
bullets or bombs, its fate whether helium or hydrogen filled, will 
probably be the same, except that in the case of helium the risk to 
human life is considerably less, due to the reduction in fire risk. 
For commercial air transportation, it is possible to overcome the 
reduced lifting power of helium by employing a slightly larger 
airship, and by proper conservation methods, it Is possible to 
operate helium filled airships with no more expense for gas than 
if hydrogen were used. However, as long as there is only one 
geographical source of helium supply, the utilization of helium 
will always be surrounded by the problems and the expense of 
transporting this gas to the craft which wish to use it. It seem, 
inconceivable that any nation not possessed with its own sources 
of helium would base any plans for military operations around a 
commodity so difficult and expensive to obtain, and so readily 
dissipated, as helium.