Here are some notes from a meeting held on 5, 6, and 7 May 59 at Headquarters
Oe a ee
go to address the questions of underground and nigh altitude tests.
A copy of
Al PP
ais SRD document is in our file so that all the details of these meetings can be
2ferred to.
The study was undertaken by joint agreenontbetween McCone, Secretary
f Defense Quarles, and Killian of the White House staff.
The discussions were
ttended by high level personnel from the three Labo 2. 'es amd ALO and several
igh level DOD personnel.
Attendees included Starbird, Bradbury,Hall, Ogle,
Mark,
eller, Johnson, Foster, Herbst, Fowler, Shuster, Hurtford, Reeves, Lover, Admiral
arker, and others.
bjectives:
A program was outlined to attain in general two types of
specific weapons developments applied to specific military weapons
ystems, such as ATLAS, SUBROC, NIKI-ZEUS, ani PERSHING; and tests addressed to
reas of significant military value which can be investigated and possibdly be
eveloped, such as a warhead which can have LOCKT in 100 los., warneads with
nhanced kill effects from various types of radiation, etc.
The program
assumed
umed out to be one of Gourteen underground tests plus safety tests to begin on
November 59 and proceed through 1 September 1960.
Not coincidentally, 1. November
9 is the first day after the end of the one yeer test moritorium.
ased on the following assumptions:
Tnais program is
that testing will be only underground,
that
hey would address only programs that might benefit materially tne National vosture
nd fit into one of the two categories above, and that the scale of testing would be
apable of being carried out at reasonable cost with existing devclopmental erfort
nd could be continued over several years.
Diagnostics will be as a minimum, ALPHA
nd Yield and, since there is not a great deal of experience in underground
fagnostics,much is expected to be developed in this period and numerous measurements
‘fll be attempted.
As to the feasibility of doing all these tests,
it is not that
shere is presently and AEC panel of consultants addressing the question of the highest