C77
Bikini Atoll was incorporated to provide more real estate. Earlier programs, as subsequently modified, for building technical and community facilities were completed or
moved far toward completion at Los Alamos and Sandia. Additional facilities were
built at Kansas City, Burlington, Salton Sea, Inyokern, and Picatinny Arsenal, The
Simms Girl's School building and site in Albuquerque were taken over from Sandia
Laboratory and slightly enlarged for the use of SFOO headquarters.
Organization

The SFOOfield and contractor organizations grew extensively.

The number of

key, operating contractors approximately doubled with addition of: Procter & Gamble,
under Army Ordnance contract, to operate Pantex; Dow Chemical Company, to operate

Rocky Flats; Thompson Products Company, to operate Spoon River; Reynolds Electric
& Engineering Company, to perform various support services at Nevada Proving Grounds;
and the following as part of thermonuclear development: National Bureau of Standards,
to operate a research and production facility at Cryogenics Engineering Laboratory;
Cambridge Corporation, to develop, assemble and test dewar equipment; and American
Car & Foundry, to do production engineering and production at new Albuquerque facilities. The Rock Island project was deactivated, cancelling this contract with Army Ordnance, SFOOField Offices were established at Burlington (to replace a representative
office), Los Alamos, Rocky Flats, Pantex, Eniwetok, Las Vegas, and Spoon River. The

field office at Los Angeles was replaced by a Branch security office and the representative
office at Rock Island was deactivated. Security representatives were stationed in New
York City.
The headquarters of SFOO remained in Los Alamos until the Summer of 1951 and
during the period was reorganized into an operations-wide staff with assignment of the
Los Alamos responsibilities to a new field office. -The headquarters was transferred

to Albuquerque as of June 18, 1951, following survey of various cities located near the
center of Santa Fe Operations, with transfer being completed by mid-autumn.

The Of-

fice of Test Operations was established and a patent attorney added to the staff. The
reorganization and physical separation of SFOO headquarters office from Los Alamos
resulted in improved SFO-wide planning, greater coordination and integration, more

concentrated responsibility for-local Los Alamos problems, and more effective staff
utilization.

SFOO-AEC employees increased from mid-1950's 1, 368 to only 1,624, of whom

352 were in the Albuquerque headquartersoffice, 144 were assigned to “other places",

and 1, 128 were in field offices. Contract personnel (including operations, research
and development, maintenance and service, Los Alamos Constructors, and Ordnance
contract employees at Pantex and Burlington but excluding design and engineering) grew
to 29, 871.

Organizational Plan for Mission Operations
The 1947 objective of relieving LASL of all operations not directly associated with
research, development and testing of the active weapons system was largely accomplished.

LASL retained facilities which could be used for stockpile production of nuclear and high
explosive components, but was using them only for developmental and prototype production. Detonators were still being shipped from Picatinny to LASL, but agreement had
been reached for concluding this practice.

SOE/ALR

ae

y

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