enn Yr .. 4 story: 1 526-1972 Description and Hi \ T P 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 . _ ede