ipRe
~~,

.

h"

fy

XEFENSE NUCLEAR AGENCY
WASHINGTON,D.C. 20305

i

oi
5
AtEM
> Aes af

THIS PAPER COORDINATED WITH OSDGC

ew
Ey

(Cifrino); MRA&L(Clifford) ; NAVY (CAPT
BUCKLEY); ISA {COL BIRICH 697-7757)
Internal: BA

0

3° OctoberC4958 ’ TSCM, OALG
y
0062379

Mrs. Ruth G. Van Cleve
Director of Territorial Affairs

Department of Interior

Room 4320
18th & C Streets, N. W.

Washington, D. C.

20240

Dear Mrs. Van Cleve,

At the May 16 interagency meeting in Washington, D.C.,

which you called at the request of the Government of the
Marshall Islands, Mr. Anton DeBrum, Secretary of Foreign
Affairs to the Government of the Marshall Islands, requested

information concerning a U.S. Navy ship which visited Likiep

Atoll in March 1954, shortly after the BRAVO shot of Operation

CASTLE.

As the Department of Defense representative at the
meeting, I accepted the responsibility for providing him
with information on this event.
Because of the differing
nature of the responsibilities of our respective Departments
with respect to the Government of the Marshall Islands,

I am providing the information to you for submission to

Mr. DeBrum.

Enclosed are copies of seven letters and memoranda

relating to radiological surveys, evacuations, etc., in

the Marshall Islands after the BRAVO shot.
They contain,
as enclosures,--some 13 other documents, plus ‘attachments, --

with the entire packet numbering about 100 pages.

Included

is the record of the visit of USS RENSHAW (DDE-449). to Likiep
Atoll on 6 March 1954 (a few days after the detonation).
The Defense Nuclear Agency

(DNA)

is still at work

retrieving the more extensive data Mr. DeBrum requested--

that dealing with radiological contamination of the Marshall

Select target paragraph3