«Z7 A 16 November memo from a Captain Craig of Test Office to Gen. Betts in DMA covers an attached memo for the commissioners which recommends the conduct of overseas tests in the open sea. The purpose of the memo which is not contained here seems to be to allow the labs and other organizations to do some efficient and firm planning in one direction only and it is felt that the way to force the commissioners to allow this is to recommend that a decision be made to focus only on the open sea area for testing due to the fact that no island base has yet been found. To quote from the conclusion of the cover letter "preparation time is very limited. A decision must be made very soon. Unless the commissioners are sure they can obtain Christmas they should agree to an open sea operation now." A 17 November letter to Betts from Bill Ogle of LASL documents the specifics of the LASL diagnostic program for possible Pacific atmospheric tests as presently planned. Details of diagnostics to be performed from groundborne, airborne and/or shipborne stations for the various types of devices and type of carrier are enumerated. On 17 November Betts sent a memorandum to Chairman Seaborg and the Commission on the subject of selection of overseas sites. He enumerates the present possibilities and states the following: "Unless final negotiations for Christmas Island can be accomplished quickly or support for Eniwetok-Bikini operations can be obtained from the highest governmental levels, I strongly but reluctantly recommend that a decision be made to conduct the tests by air drops or barge shots in the open sea. I feel that a decision at this time will provide the guidance needed to piace all technical and operationai preparations on a systematic basis. With the firm knowledge that the tests wili be conducted at sea, ali effort can be applied in this direction and it is likely that improved techniques can be worked out that will overcome the inherent disadvanteges of such an operation. Continued delay in selection of a test site will greatly increase the cost in terms of funds and manpower, as well as reduce the effectiveness of final operation, since effort must be directed to support several contingencies instead of supporting a specific plan of action. In summary, I recommend that unless there is a good possibility of obtaining Christmas Island or Eniwetok-Bikini Atolls by December 1, the Commission make a decision to proceed with an open sea test operation, making use of Johnston Island and Hawaiian support facilities as feasible. If it appears that agreement for use of Christmas Island might be obtained with extended negotiations, these negotiations should be continued in order to provide a more suitable place of operations for tests in the future." Two letters from Leudeke, the AEC General Manager to the JCAE on November 18 address previous requests from that committee for information concerning Eniwetok in particular and the resumption of atmospheric testing as the AEC is planning for it. The first letter responds specifically to four questions Taised by the committee on the present status of the Eniwetok area as to its readiness and response capability for overseas atmospheric testing. The answer in part states that "preparations for a limited air drop series with limited diagnostics could be done so that the first test could be conducted in 12 weeks. Preparations for an extended test series at Eniwetok with optimum diagnostics would require up to 6 months.'' Further Holmes & Narver as well as EG&G and Sandia and their capabilities to respond with their organizations manned for a test series are addressed. Also the fact that