tests series thru LASL and not thru DASA as it
should according to Brown.
He
just tries to clarify the procedures as the DOD feels
they should be followed for
including AEC measurements on DOD shots and for properly propos
ing DOD tests thru
DASA.
The second letter from Brown addresses the letter to
the President on 29 Nov.
with the possible atmospheric shot list and gives Brown and the DOD's specific
disagreements.
He lists 6 of the AEC tests which for one reason or another the
DOD does not feel should. be included in the initial list.
Basically they feel
they don't meet the following criteria: "they can be fully justified on the basis
of real (tho not necessarily immediate) military importance, and there would be
very great difficulity in performing them in other environments."
Brown makes no
mention of communicating these disagreements and exclusions to anybody but Seaborg.
Note that there were frequent exchanges between Mainkins of the United Kingdon,
Seaborg and Rusk, as well as other high level officials, thru Dec. addressing the
agreement and planning and working out of details for testing the UK device in
Nevada.
_6
A 1 Dec. TWX from Froman to Betts covers the LASL proposal for additional
‘6 |ten altitude
shot.
He notes that neither of the DOD proposed shots are fully Ape
| satisfactory for learning how to test warheads in space, in particular because
with the yield and altitude of Starfish, it is so close as to cause serious
saturation problems in detectors suitable for diagnostics in space testing.
Froman believes we should check out the methods of testing in space in order to
avoid ignorance in that field such as we have had about underground testing.
Specfically, LASL proposes that the AEC sponsor a shot of 1000 or more kilometers
altitude and of 165 kilotons or less.
Additional merits to this proposal are that
the incremental costs will be small for the AEC since they will certainly instrucment
and be highly manned for the 400 kilometer shot, and also Argus effects for the DOD,
data relevant to Vela Hotel, and Vela Sierra, and pure physics data, as well as
some data on fallout from that altitude.