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GENERAL ADVISORY COMMITTER
' to the
U. 5S, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
Washington 25, D,. C,
Mr, Lewis L, Strauss, Chairman
U. S, Atomic Energy Commission
Washington 25, D. CG,
Dear Mr. Strauss:
Hetewith is the statement of the Committee!s dpizion with respect ta
the weapons test program.
This statement is an integral part of the |
repof of the Chairman ofthe General Advisory Committee to the
Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of the 40th Meeting of the
GAC i
.
The Committee wishes to. velterate its opinion that our test program
is otffe of the tost important elements in our whole weapons program.
Without it; we could not prove out the advances which are being made
in the weapons laboratories to increase the magnitude, the efficiency,
and the variety of weapons in our stockpile.
We therefore believe
that if any international arrangement were made to curtail or abolish
these tests, it should only be made under such arrangements that we
obtain an equivalent value, or greater, for the security of the —
United States,
a
With respect to your question as to whether a violation of an agreement could be determined, our best opinion is that if the weapon
tested were in the megaton range that we would almost certainly:
detect the effects even though it were a deep underwater explosion.
On the other hand, we are not certain at the present time whether
this effect would be distinguishable from the impact of a meteor.
In any event, it was our feeling that it would be much better to be
‘certain that no test is made through some system of inspection rather —
than to try to prove that such a test had been made, since such a
procedure would result only in long and inconclusive discussions,
CLASSIFICATION CANCELLED
Sincerely yours,
BY AUTHORITY OF DOE/OC
S
REVIEWED BY
om
Yes
DATE
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H.R Schmidt gf1rf 99
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I. I. Rabi