Defense,
The principal pot.v
cP
oryeacnce WEL be
All 4ssuances will be joint AEC-DOD.
Jashington.
It is not planned that
JTF-7 will issue public announcements.
However, any that might
issue from the Task Force would require prior approval from
the AEC and the DOD.
5. As necessary,
the AEC and the DOD will consult with
the Department of State, United States Information Agency and
appropriate government coordinating bodies on the timing and
issuance of official information concerning Operation HARDTACK,
6. Determining which HARDTACK detonations are to be
publicly announced is the responsibility jointly of the AEC
(Divisions of Military Application and Information Services)
and the DOD, and announcements will issue from the AEC-DOD Joint
Office of Test Information described in Paragraph 11 below.
The criterion controlling whether a detonation 1s to be announced
is the size of yield.
Detonations of 200 kilotons yield or
higher are to be announced by the JOTI as soon as the requisite
facts for an announcement are available.
Such statements will
be limited to the fact of occurrence of a detonation;
the time
of detonation to the nearest minute; and a general statement
as to the place of detonation,
Bikini Atoll.
e.g.,
on Eniwetok Atoll or
The announcements will make no reference to yield.*
The rationale underlying the announcement criterion is attached
as Annex "A",
7. Statements approved by the AEC and the DOD may be issued
by the Commander, JTF-7, simultaneously with release in Washington.
* An exception will be the detonation for the UN Observer event.
. It is expected that the predicted and actual yield of this
shot, precise time of detonation and a full deseription of
placement for detonation will be among the information approved
for public issuance.
A separate information plan will be
submitted covering this event.
-5 -
Appendix "A"