PHOTOGRAPHICREPORT
1.
It has been evident during the Sandstone tests that few, if
any, of the personnel concernedhave been thinking ti terms of the
military requirementsto use experhsnts
of this nature to gather
scientificdata and operationalfacts upon which an Atomic striking
force must be built. During the preparatory period and throughout
the test, there have been no manifestationsof the establishmentof
policies or techniques which ti
develop the tools needed to exploit
combat utilization of nuclear fission weapons. These policies and
techniques are just as nnicha part of the scientificrequirementas
the data which determines the efficiency of the weapon. They must be
scientificallydetermined and scientificallyapplied. That they lie
outside the province of the Atomic Energy Co,muissionas presently constituted does not detract one whit from their necessity to tie United
“States.
2. The reader is asked to keep this observation in mind as he
reads through a detailed description of how photographywas actually
applied to obtaining
3.
a record of Operation Sandstone.
The problem confrontingthe photographerd~g
Sandstone
was to record during a period of darkness all the phenomena which
varied in luminosity from the light of less that 1/100 sun to the
intense and blinding brilliance of 600 suns or men.
Never had photo
materials been called upon to record over such a tremendous scale.
However, there was alwaya the possibility of a low order detonation,
1
Section XVIII