-4- in the lawsuit, the people of Bikini feel they have been short-changed because the U.S. conducted a highly visible, exhaustive radiological survey of Enewetak. The Bikini portion of the aerial survey, coupled with the previous and planned ground surveys, will go a long way toward making the Bikini data base comparable to that of Enewetak. If the aerial survey of the northern Marshalls, including Bikini, is not conducted, the U.S. Government would undoubtedly be precluded from settling the Bikini lawsuit out of court. While there is the expectation of a successful defense of this suit, there is considerable potential for adverse publicity deriving therefrom. The U.S. could also be charged with not taking all prudent steps to assure that there were no individual sources of radiological contamination on islands released from U.S. custody.