DEVEAMTNED 30 BE 45
REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
ADMINISTRATIVE MARKO a
E.0- 12065, Section 6
5
eyAm
by. _a-MARS, Date- ae
iveDranc.
409278
“Services Seekat Least One Voice’et
nthee “A. E.Cy Make’ Overture vf
>On
By C. B. Allen
’
:
WASHINGTON. ‘tain, the effectiveness of the na{GH-RANKING officers of tion’s atomicdefenses inevitably
the’ Army, Navy and Air would be strengthened if the miliForee are hopeful that one tary eatablishmest had direct rep~ by-product ‘of ‘the forthcoming Tesentation in the A. E.C. instead}
atomic ‘tests on Eniwetok atoll of having to rely on indirectrepre-;
t.
ip for sentation through ..the
commis-
BEST COPYAVAILABLE
és boy.”
on? Their hope ‘that this may come
a0 Pass is based on the fact that
them
military establishment. has
been times when the: commission*
calls-them in and treats them like
office boys—and I am. afraid we
have acted much the same way,
“(made « friendly overture by nam- with respect to AnE.'G.top sclen-
” ing an A. E. C. scientist to full- tists attending atomic -field‘ tests
.», fledged membership on: its own where the military runs theshow.
"field test team in preparation for It's high time for’ us to get to‘the Eniwetok experiments.. For gether at the same level. on both
“‘the frst time since a joint task sides of the fence.”
““forces, has been set up to conduct
This, of course, cannot be accom-
‘ON xOg
430704
-¥be made “a real member of the critic of the present A. E. C.-
#.deam” ‘rather than = a.“mere ‘bat military set-up ‘said. ‘There have
WyYyerius,
ergy development after the war respective services see to it that
“and
d they do not want to ‘establish they are the best‘ avatlable—they
7, such control now—but they do still can’t be as effective as a miar ~
. feel that the armed forces. should who sits at the head table,” one’
©
»
AXOLISOdSY
sion’s military Maison Sommittee
‘ clyilian Atomic Energy Commis- and the A. E. C.’s director of military application, Brigadier Genera!
_ sion.
:
” ‘These men donot’ belong to the James McCormack jr. .
“No matter how good:the men
ae clique which wanted to perpe’..ate
military control over nuclear en- are who hold these jobs-—and their -
NOILOATION *
may be eventual
. .the military in the now exclusively
Is
|
™
*
I>
nS
such tests, its top staff—hitherto plished en the A. E. C, side by the
§..g0Mmposed solely of. Army, Navy mere willingness to do so; it would
egand Air Ferce officers—includes require. amendment: of ‘the Mc“s civilian, Dr. Alvin C. Graves, of Mahon Atomic Energy Act of.1946.
- ‘“the Los Ale~os, N. M., scientific This, after months of wrangling
© laboratory.
Dr.
Graves’s
projection
over the issue, both in Congres-
into sional hearings and legislative de-
oowhat, heretofore, has been an ex- bate, ' determined . that ‘all - five
x elusively military realm may prove members of the A. E. Cc, must be
., © have no particular significance; civilians.
+,on the other hand, it.may be a
* ‘very significant straw. In any event,
when the last serles of atomic tests
. were held at Eniwetok in April and
May, 71948, the. scientists of the
A. B.C, functioned only as a sub-
‘ @ gidiary “task: group”? working ina
f. dependently .of the military staff
trend reporting directly to the task
““force commander, Lieutenant Gen-
~ eral John E. Hull, of the Army. Dr.
ae
. “ Graves, incidentally, was deputy
' “director of this scientific group.
\
¥
ANY responsible military men
are convinced that Congress
would modify the law to permit
onemilitary member on the commission—-and they insist, that one
is all they want—if the A. E. C.
itself indicated abellef that this
is. desirable. Such. officers view
the according of staff-officer status to Dr. Graves as a definite bid
for such: an expression from the
A. E. C.—though there also are
those who imply, that the commis‘Even this modified merging of sion “forced” the military to put
“military and civilian effort in what its scientist on the joint task force
. :was essentially a ‘war~exercise led staff.
For the most part, however, the
. General Hull to describe the set-up
as “unique” in military organizaton. He added that it represented
“the ultimate in‘ integrated effort’
‘and embodied the concept of preparedness now being taught at the
« National War College—“the inte., grated effort of the armed forces
latter view e
ates from the
ILITARY officials in position
to know say that the “splena
* ld relationship and co-operation”
_ established between the . military
organization and the A. E,- C.'s
speechbefore the National Press
same group that has given rise to
reports of long-standing friction
and failure to exchange vital information between the A. E. C.
and the armed forces. Probably the
crowning rumor in this category
_ with civillan scientists and: other —publicly scotched last week by
Admiral Forrest P. Sherman, Chief
ae civillan elements.”
of Naval Operations, at a luncheon
scientists at Eniwetok under Gen-
Club—was that the joint Chiefsof
Staff had not been -informed by
the A. E. C. how: many: atomic
bombs the United States has in its
stockpile or the rate at which they
are being produced.
eral Hull have improved ever since.
From other authoritative surces
“But they do not deny that they ex- it was learned that not only the
Sipect still better Maison under -the Joint Chiefs hut Secretary of Deanewly’» announced“ arrangement} fense Louis A. Johnson know these
agiving the A. E. C. direct repre- vital facts and that they are “consentation on the Eniwetok ‘war tinuously informed” by the A. E, C.;
council” at staff level. °
on all phases of development in’
ss Similarly, these experts main- the field of atomic energy.
? oS
wy
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