196 8 7 September b Betts to labs: asked for information on need, etc. of atmospheric testing for early submission to President. 7 September Agnew discussed NTS schedule at WWG. Said 4 drill rigs Us working at maximum capacity allowed planning about one test every three weeks and that, regardless of schedules, shots would be done as holes became available. Alpha and radiochem. measurements currently planned on all tests. Cowan reported early, meager Russian test radio- V chem. results. 7 September 7 September Bradbury to Betts: contains LASL tentative plan for b pP testing -~~ 14 Sept. date for lst underground shot -- stresses consideration of atmospheric and hi-altitude tests and advantages of same -~ all-out digging, testing rate --- non-conservative containment, etc. ground rules LRL getting ready for 15 Sept. shot _7 Meeting between ARPA, DASA, and FC/DASA on 7 Septem ber 1961addressed Inclusion of V U exper iments in Nougat tests (DASAmessag e #603177 "FL that date addressed this). fy m This folder contains a myriad of correspondence discussing getting ready for testing in Nevada and the ongoing operations of the Nougat series. A very interesting TWX sent from Bradbury to Betts on Sept. 8 addresses in a great deal of detail the philosophy that LASL sees to cover the future wot testing now that we're about to get started. He discusses the possi-~ “bilities and limits of underground testing and the ramifications of testing 69d! in ; the atmosphere either in Nevada or in the Pacific in various places and the response times thereof. He discusses the possibility of systems tests we P SPC as the Atlas, the Minuteman, Nike Zeus, etc. and the desirability possibly of doing these at Johnston rather than from the actual areas where they can presently be launched. He notes the need for high altitude effects tests and vulnerability studies and the difficulty of doing these underground. As a general statement, let me quote the following: ‘'LASL has to ignore all the various aspects of propaganda factors one way or another. experts are in Washington. All the In general we would recommend the following: Let us try out underground testing in Nevada as fast as we can and see what we can do and what troubles we do or do not get into. We may end up saying “Fine, finc't or we may come running to Washington after a few months with the cry that we aren't petting anywhere. I think we have to give it a good try fast. By the first “of the year, we should have a pretty good idea of what the virtucs and difficulties are. We will also have a better idea of where we are headed in the international situation. No big warheads really need testing today. In 1962 we may want to crank up balloons in Nevada for small things because we are going too slowly or getting too little data or we may not. For big things we may want to sweat it out for a while longer and enjoy our propaganda advantage or we may want later to debate the possi- bilitics.... This is the first piece of correspondence that I know of that goes into a great deal of detail on the possibilitics of atmosvheric testing, the locations, the schedules, etc. c