4.6.1 Background and Objectives of Operation BUSTER-JANGLE. This series was originally planned as two separate weapons testing programs: Operation BUSTER and Operation JANGLE. BUSTER, the plans for which began in late 1950, was to evaluate new devices developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory and to obtain data on the basic phenomena associated with these devices. Plans for JANGLE originated with Operation CROSSROADS, conducted at Bikini in 1946. Scientific studies of the underwater CROSSROADS detonation led to inquiries concerning the effects and possible military value of an underground nuclear detonation. The Joint Chiefs of Staff accordingly obtained AEC agreement to conduct tests involving an underground and a surface nuclear detonation. The general objectives of the tests were to determine the effects of these detonations and to study the devices for inclusion in the nuclear arsenal (8: 20-21). In 1950, AEC and DOD representatives selected Amchitka Island, one of the Aleutian Islands, as the site for the underground and surface tests, to be called Operation WINDSTORM and to be conducted from 15 September to 15 November 1951. During March 1951, they decided that the tests should be conducted at the NTS and should be coordinated by the Air Force. The two nuclear events were subsequently renamed Operation JANGLE (8: 21). Because BUSTER and JANGLE were then both scheduled for the fall of 1951 at the NTS, the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project recommended that the two series be conducted as consecutive phases of one series, Operation BUSTERJANGLE. On 19 June 1951, the AEC approved the AFSWP recommendation (8: 21-22). 4.6.2 BUSTER-JANGLE Test Operations. Operation BUSTER-JANGLE involved an estimated 7,800 DOD personnel in observer programs, tactical maneuvers, damage effects tests, scientific and diagnostic studies, and support activities. Approximately 6,500 of these participants took part in Exercises Desert Rock I, II, and III, Army programs involving members from all four armed services. The remaining DOD personnel provided support for the Desert Rock exercises or participated in scientific activities (8: 1). 88