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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR
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OFFICE OF THE 1GH COMMISSIONER
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ZMIPAN, MARIANA ISLANDS
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45504
TACOTY SALE AN
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September 20, 1967
Lt, Col, Clarence D, Walters, dr.
Staff Judge Advocate
Department of the Air Force
Headquarters, Air Force Western Test Range (AFSC)
Vandenberg Air Force Base, California 93437
Dear Colonel Walters:
é
Thank you fo® your letter of 13 Septenber 1067 to mr. Bhoecratt
concerning the Use and Occupancy Agreements for Bikini and Eniwetok,
With reference to the five-year periodic revicws roquired by these
agreements, our records indicate that such a review was held in
1961 and that we concurred in the determinution that the land was
still needed by the United States,
fe do not have any indication
in our files that we were requeatcd to concur in a similar deter-
amination in 1966,
At any rate, 1 have become increasingly concerned because of mount-
ing pressure from the Marphallose people who were former residents
of those islands for some indication as to when they might be
permitted to return to their home islands, From tine to tine, we
have received rather informal indications that the danger fron
radioactivity may no longer exist,
We have algo had indications
that the people removed from those islands are not satisfied with
the anount of compensation they are receiving from the income from
trust funds established at the time the islands were acquired for
military use and we foresee gome adcitional pressure that the
question of the amount of compensation be reopened,
For some years
ve have also Leen aware thel the former Bikini people, who were
relocated to the Island of Kili, feel that Kili has never been
suitable mainly because of its relative inaccessibility at sane
times of the yeur end the difficulty of the people in obtaining
natural foods and fish,
For all of these reasons il woula be most
helpful to us if we could have some indication of the plans of the
United States for future use of Bikini and Enivetok, We are parttioularly interested in whether or not there are any prospects for early
return of those islands in order that their people may be repatriated,
nerosiony
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