410387 April 19, 1953 Dr. John N. wolfe, Chiat Bnvironmental sciences Branch Division of Blology and Medicine U.3. Atomic “nergy Commission Washington 25, D.c. BEST COPY AVAILABLE Dear Dr. Wolfe: In response te your suggestion of April 9, we have reviewed the Laboratory's past and present programs in an effort to determine how much of the ltaboratory's total effort has bean devoted to ‘crash’ programs or te special field expeditions or scientific con3sultetions that were beyond the normal flow of jLaboratory inguiry. The Laboratory, by tradition, has been on call for special services to the Atomic Energy Commission and, in certain casas, =o other agencies whose interests parallel those of tha Commis- zion. These services have Deen uaed consistently and with con- Siderable frequency «ver the years because the Jaboratory, particularly in its Pacific studies, has accunuiated an unparalleled familiarity with the environment in which nuclear acti~ vities have been conducted. In addition, the Laboratory's specific interest in aquatic 3jitucdies is unique among Commission- aponsyered agencies, and thus its services have been required repeatedly in programs that were planned at the highest lavels and which the [faboratory cauld not have anticipated in its plang for budget and staff. In such instances, the Laboratory has been required to turn from its regularly scheduled investiqa~ tions toa make whatever field studies might currently be required, and it is this combination of experience and flexibility that has been characteristic of the Laboratory's performance. In reviewing the occasions in which the Laboratory has been requested to perform specilai missions for the Commission, the “crash” programs have been considered to be those whica either were of an emergency nature or involved the Laboratory in ways that could not be anticivated in the preparation of the continuing program: and budgets, [It must be recognired that in many