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Description and Hi
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ESTABLISHMEN OF AEC AND AFSW
of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 resulted in the
ucturing of the Manhattan Project organization. Responsibility for
The
pass age
eh atomic development was assigned to the AEC, a new civilian
Most of the Manhattan Project scientific personnel and
fue
ae atories went to the AEC. The Manhattan Project itself was renamed
eeArmed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP) and remained a
military organization. The AFSWP has been renamed twice, as the
Defense Atomic Support Agency in 1959 and as the Defense Nuclear
Agency in 1971. The first head of this organization was Major General
Leslie R. Groves, USA, who had directed the Manhattan Project. He was
named Chief, AFSWP on 28 February 1947 and Rear Admiral William R.
parsons, USN, became his deputy. RADM Parsonsalso hadparticipated in
the Manbattan Project and was bomb commander aboard the plane, the
Enola Gay,”” that dropped thefirst atomic weapon on Hiroshima. He had
also served as Commander, JTF-1, at Bikini Atoll.59
The U.S. Army Element of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos
Scientific Laboratory was Company C, Santa Fe Detachment, 38th
Engineer Battalion, U.S. Army Corpsof Engineers. In the spring of 1947, it
was relocated to Sandia Base, near Albuquerque, New Mexico, and
established as Field Command, AFSWP, the principal operating element
of the project. Later in the year, U.S. Air Force and Navy personnel were
assigned, making AFSWP a joint service command. As the central
coordinating agency between civilian and military interests in atomic
development, AFSWP provided staff and technical assistance to the
Secretary of Defense; overall surveillance, storage, and maintenance of
the nuclear weaponsstockpile; technical, logistics, training and stockpile
management support to the Military Services; and, direction of the
Department of Defense (DOD) weaponseffects test programs. During
overseas test operations, JTFs were formed af Sandia Base under the
direction of the Chief, AFSWP.Military Service elements wereassigned to
the JTF to provide support at the proving grounds.®9 The first AFSWP
JTF was formed under the command ofCaptain T. A. Hederman, USN, to
conduct a resurveyofBikini Atoll following Operation Crossroads.§!
ESTABLISHMENT OF ENEWETAK PROVING GROUND:
JULY-DECEMBER 1947
Meanwhile, action was being taken in the United Nations (U.N.) to
place the Pacific islands, which Japan had administered under a League of
Nations mandate, under the trusteeship of the United States. In
ses
.
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