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OFFICIAL USE ONLY
4, One course of action suggested by representatives of the
Department of State, and favorably considered by the Legal Counsel's
Office of the Department of Justice, 1s that the Atomic Energy
Commission issue a regulation under
its general authority to carry
out the purposes of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, and to protect
the health and safety of the public, which would provide a basis
for taking appropriate steps to prevent interference by the "Golden
Rule",
Attached is such a regulation, and the legal rationale
upon which its proposed issuance is based is set forth in the
following paragraphs,
5. Subsection 161 i. (3) of our Act provides that the
Commission may prescribe such regulations as it deems necessary to
govern any activity authorized pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act
in order to protect health and to minimize danger to life or
property.
Subsection 161 q. authorizes the Atomic Energy Commis-
sion to promulgate such regulations as may be necessary to carry
out the purposes of the Atomic Energy Act.
6, One of the activities authorized pursuant to subsection
91 a. of the Atomic Energy Act is to conduct experiments in the
military application of atomic energy.
Under this authority the
Commission has tested nuclear weapons for a number of years.
Further,
sections 1, 2, and 3 of the Atomic Energy Act clearly
indicate that it is an important purpose of the Act to develop
atomic energy for military purposes,
and there can be no question
that nuclear weapons testing is an essential element in carrying
out this purpose,
7. If it is assumed, as must be the case, that exclusion of
unauthorized individuals from the danger area surrounding the
Eniwetok Proving Ground is essential to the efficient and early
completion of the HARDTACK test series, and to the protection of
the health and sfaety of the public, it would seem legally
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