a i AT ‘DOE ARCHIVE RESPONSE TO INQUIRY ON BIKINI ISLANDERS Can ‘ ‘ “ een" the natives be returned to Bikini now? No decision on that question has been made yet. An interagency team of scientists visited the atoll last year and collected considerable raw data on the current conditions material there. is being analyzed now. decision is not AEC's alone, That The ultimate however. The Department of the Interior's Territories Office, the State Department are also involved. and the Defense Department There is, however, sympathetic interest within the government with the natives' desire to return.