By a 3 Mar. 27m 59 memo to other staff organizations of the Joint Task Force, , Col. Watson of J-3 discusses the, “Preparation of Operations Plan for: Conducted Open Sea Atomic Tests Series.“ CY JIF-7 All the other parts of the Task Force are requested to provide their imputs to J-3 for the preparation of an open sea operation plan per an attached operation plan outline. in the first paragraph as follows: The approach is outlined "Should a change in the national policy of the ‘United States provide for@resumption of atomic test detonations, several devices would require immediate proof testing. The expected yield of these devices will - preclude their detonation within the continental limits of the US. Political. consideration may also preclude the use of the EPG as well as trust territory waters for testing purposes. Therefore, an appropriate plan must be established by JTF-7 for the quick test of atomic devices in a suitable area of the open sea." The concept which is spelled out in detail would be for a quick test response of not more than 5 months after the decision which consists of an eight shot series with yields from 200 kilotons up to 8 megatons, conducted on the open sea by means of a small Task Force utilizing ships and aircraft as appropriate. The ships selected center around the LSD/LCU configuration. The primary area thought of for conduct is centered about 300 miles southeast of the island of Hawaii with a secondary area about 300 miles south of Johnston Island. As for diagnostics, they are limited to ship mounted instrumentation and radio chemical sampling by B-57 aircraft.