N-3 _ The following comments relate to the timing of the evacuation of the Rongelap people. (a) According to C. L. Dunhag, Director of the AEC Division of Biology and Medicine, (Cronkite et el, 1956), “unexpected changes in the wind structure deposited radioactive materials on inhabited atolls and on ships of Joint Task Force 7, which was conducting the tests. Radiation surveys of the areas revealed radiation levels above permissible levels: therefore evacuation was ordered, and was carried out as quickly as possidle with the facilities available to the Joint Task Force”. (b) According to Merril Eisenbud (personal communication, see references) a scientific menber of the Task Force, "There are many unanswered questions about the circumstances of the 1954 fallout. It is strange that no formal investigation was ever conducted. There have been reports that the device was exploded despite an adverse meterological forecast. It has not been explained why an evacuation capability was not standing by, as had been recommended, or why there was not immediate action to evaluate the matter when the Task Force learned (seven hours after the explosion) that the AEC Health & Safety Laboratory recording instrument on Rongerik was off scale. There was also an unexplained interval of many days before the fallout was announced to the public". (c) Since the Rongelapese had been evacuated prior to previous tests, it is not clear why the usual procedure was changed. In February 1954, Dr. Bertell has told me, Magistrate John Anjain of Rongelap was told about the Bravo test, but was not given the date. He said that “there are no orders from Washington to evacuate the people”. (d) Rongelap was evacuated on March 3, 1954, approximately 50-55 hours after the shot. 5000bb9 54 '