etme Lin 1 Be ae ByBD. ---MARS, Date. VVAZ. f wre: REPRODUCED'ATTHE NATIONALARCHIVES’ + x a CrPs os 409274 = : K : TATEMENT. OF CAPTAIN JANMSS S. RUSSELL, USN, TEST DIRECTOR, JOINT TASK FORCE SEVEN, AT PRESS CONFERENCE, HEADQUARTSRS, USARPAC, ' FORT SHAFTER, T. He, MAY 18, 1948. On behalf of the United States Atomic Unergy Commission, I wish to acknowledge the outstanding contribution to progress in the development of atomlc weapons which General Hull has made as Commander Joint Task Force Sevon. Joint Task Force Seven was formed because the scope of operations at the Commission's Proving | Ground at Eniwetok reqiired the assistance and services of all Departments of the National Military Establishment. Joint Task Force Seven provided the command structurc, the military and Internal security, the mcans for an overseas movement to a base 4500 miles from the mainland, the construction forec, and the opcrating force .for the Eniwetok Proving Ground. Not only was it a completely unificd operation of the Army, Navy, and fir Force including the Armed Forces Special Weapons Froject, but it was a combincd operation of military personnol and civilian scientists and tcehnicdans:of the Atomic Ener ay Commission and its contractorse The support given to the AEC Proving Ground Group which conductad the ‘tosts was complotc, and without the assistanco of military personnel in the technical phases of the operations, the test program could not have becn carricd out. Tho successful completion of this test program is a triumph for the Los Alamos Selentific Laboratory, where weapon development work for the Commission is carricd one It is also a triumph for Dr. Darol Ks Froman and the rcemarlatblic scientific and technical staff which he assemblcd for these tes us again on behalf of the Atomic Energy Commission, I wish to co nempatulate Doctor roman and his staff. ent As Teat Director for the Commission, I want to pay tribute. to the work of Dr. Alvin C. Graves as Deputy Scientific Director under Doctor Froman and to Colonel Paul T, Feruss, USAF,” a8 * Deputy Test Director. 2 ee Ir order to understand the importance of the operationsof Joint, Task Force Sevan it is necessary only to consider the reasons why these tests wore held. uring the period of wartime develop- ment of atomic cnergy, the onc goal relentlessly pursued was,the ercation of an atomic bomb which would work - - and work in.‘time to be effective in World war II. it nad only to work; it’:needed not to be too cffioicnt, and the rclated problems of engincering and production wore dcalt with in the urgency of wartime conditions. The bomb did work. It workcd initially at Llamagordoy :NeM., where the first test took placo on culy 16, 1945. It worked-‘tegain ‘at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then the following ycar at Bikini. 3 f . i BEST COPY AVAILABLE fae. | ADMINISTRATIVE MARKING E.0. 12065, Section g524¢ ate s