An Wed but obstirm infant monitara ng ayaiem it tamed by it 01911 target the rst Soviet atom THE 0F IQE 1 1 Dayie Northrup Donald H Rock 1 Alert 112 began fut like many of the pre om 111 sounded in LB - Long Range Detection System A eld wait reported an a Septembcr 1949 that a lter paper exposed rm hours at 18 000 feet on a Weqtlaer plane ying from 123 111 to Mash sh wca a radioactivity of 85 counts par minute 35 counts over the recently hIJVcd o dal threshold of signi cance But this Ema the slight indim ou was to trigger a massive rcac on Analyses of the air lm 51131915 by Air Force's contractor Tracqlab and the Los Mame Scienti c Abontow pmvided unambiguous Tin's authonw- fh mm of another may of higher dani on ou 23 Joe I dent Truman to announce an 23 that an atomic device had been detonated by'the USSR between 2'6 and 29 August 1949 New did it happen that an atomic tat detection organization was in Opera On in mid-1949 two years bchre the earliest estimated time when there would be anything far it to deted Gened In September 1946 General Hoyt Vaadcnba-g DCI aching h suggestions-Tram the Army Air Farce RM chief General LeMny and A-2 Galen-31 Stanford wmte Gwen Graves whose Manhattan Engineering District had not Only created the box-uh but pioneered methods of detecting foweign atomic development work including test upiosions that the Central Intelligence Group pmposed to coordinate U S detet an by con nuous survei ance of the physical phmOmena In the abnosphere asked about Suitable I mtru- mentation for this purpose requested data from last mmcr's Cmss- 'The Mm gure though the ght ma ve' awr I an we - simpli catfon Under prodding by Scum melt-calmer of ve magi-mien joint committee on Itemic serie of CIA a mate-s an the date for he rst Soviet bomb and for suits-timid stockpiling had been wardimtcd or 15 tbomughly among the 1gen ics crammed The Hut Of these dated 15 Dumber 1 7 hid the rst bomb dwbt before 1953 almost 0 111 11 not beIom 1951 no probable date cs maublc The Diredax of Intelligence of the Mum old dif cult for me to Appreciate tbe ph wophy Which permit 11 optimistic Ending tint inevitably win tend tolu thnsea 'echd byit into lfmlingof his security We certainiy be no ineen w tn action It was not yet ub shed In the community that 'incentive to action Was not I function of intelligence The 54 11 56min 1 July 1948 threw the cal-Bert possible date back a mid 1950 use made midJSS the must Theta-1 3m hint leg 24 1 - nun-1 Joe I consultation between parties an this rcqum before Groves rcp ed in writing at the and nf Decemba He said that inSh-umumtation was prac mbie but both instruments and prOcedure needed develop- meat and a rapid communications net would be accum He thought a military agwcy should be designated to war 01 Prom out but approved the Taking the 1636 At Crossroads an mac showed at sampling by modi ed 3395 and 30m amustic detection de es 2mg other methods had been tried but the msults were not clan and mud ble for what was eventually done On 14 March whether on Shaun's urging or in commute of the earlier initiatives Vandenberg asked War Navy the ABC Land the Ioint Rascamh 13 Board to join with CIC in and shing a committee of to formulate an ova-a1 detection plan This was done and on 30 jun Admi l R H H hn sucb a complete into operation but in the mcantimc Stand ml of normal background ndinac xdty should be Established and air sampling for this plum which could be started medfapcly through ights suitably equipped Plancs ust might yield in formation indicative 6f an atomic explosion if any should have Damned dining the early operations 'Lcm s L Strauss Man 'tmd Deafnbm New Yodc 1962 - 25- Joe 1 home a separate Army Chief of 81 23 Eisenhower issued this directive The Cornmanding Central Army Air Forces is hereby Clinger With the overwl upom bility for detecting tunic explo ons 11wa in the wadd This rapomibi ty is to include the collection Inel is tad animation of the required sdenhl c end the man at the resulting intelligence Iomryinwt ih ArmAh- Facet will Emilia to omugaeeng permund'uul warm within mi without the We hep- tome will ubliah amoge menhwith end maintain liaison with All par cifu ng Organizations With this tiirective Long Range Detection as the Air Force named the program was launched Whether or not the directive intended that LED literally be accomplished without addition may which 1 was the tenor of some later intel'prdatioas and would have been oona s'istent With considerable tlu nlcing at the time it was Issued it made no provision for implementing funds and established no priodty for thc- ngmm Two days later the Air Force s Special Weapons Group which had been assigned the detection responsibility began to plan with the AEC-nnd a some of other agencies trial defection apomtiom in connection with the Sandstone' tests scheduled at Eniwetok for the spring of 1948 Allocations of the LED e fort initially far Sandstone but to be continued in what was to be called an Interim Surveillance Research Net were shortly agreed upon Air Force would be re- sPonsible for air sampling by Air Weather Sen ice aircraft whose regular ights had been suggested for this ns-pose even before the specialists committee met and at weather ground statimzs for set- ting up a cent-a control center and far initiating or monitoring rmeb and expe mentation by other government agencies and external institutions It contracted with Tracedab of BOtstOn- and later CaJiEOmla to do the bull-c of radiochemiml analy s Coast and Geodetic Survey would do special monitoring at its existing seismic post and on discreetly mongol input from foreign stations Navy would be rmponsible fer underwater sonic obsemtions and xainwater sampling as well as some in sample analysis techniquee Anny Signal Corps would provide data from its mug and possibly some added acoustic stations AEC wotdd Participate in research and development and in sample analysis 26 - Joe I The hastily made mangunonts for tho Em wetok toot turned out quite productive The capabilities of aircraft of sampling wet-c clearly with externally mountod air lter using Chemi- ml Warfare papers Extensive meteorological observations indi- cated a Paci c line of intercept for air muses movio eastwax from the USSR Tncc ab sample analysis proved big effective In August 1943 mgb termed an Tap and devcloPmmtol program 3 to Oput onal and Ian to be hood with budget Moul oc which rulcd not mean in depth actual detection momma-c began along lines which generally were those operative at the time of Alert 1 12 a you Iain Money Troubla Even before the Smdsiqna tests at Eniwciolc however the dim - culty of funding ri e-arch under the congezva vc cyc m the Research and Bead became Bride-mt The RDB comdinator of the United States bm'goonhng pmtwu- researd x- and development in c 'eot exercised command Authority over agency budget and so adjudicated rivalries in this eld It consistent views on LED wore such as to reduce the scope of research to air sampling and Hmitod sci-3min Studim The accomplishment at Sandstone were made by an AEC loan of Icftmor Man- hattan Project hands obtained through tho good o 'ioos Of Admiral Strauss and advances other participating agencies Thus when the newly organized Air Force Of ce of Atomic Energy for short as it began interim mma' anoe in Aogust 1943 submittod a research and development Program which would have obligated $30 million in FY 1949 and $13 4 minim in FY 1950 the BDB's Committee on Atomic Enorgy under Chairman J Robert Oppenheimer would approve only that Portion of it devoted to work on nuclear debris sampling and studies to toll whether an exp could be distinguished from an cartbquakc Th Committee said that acoustic loathe- 1 showed 50 little Promisa of success at long ranges and were so ambiguous in oompo son with tadiodwmiml methods that they did not fus fy additional c ort chal longed this positioa and asked for a review by the RUB Committee on Geophysics and Coography hut the Board supported its C0m mitteo on Atomic Entry From then on AF OAT-1 was engaged in a continuous running battle with the Cemmitteo rst under Oppenheimor and then undor James 5mm - -27 Joe I B Con nt The initial program requirements of $30 million ware cut rst to $12 million and then to $6 million In March 1949 General now Air Force Chief of Sta wrote to the Joint Chiefs cannot Agree Swan-y of Mouse f0 dodrian The did send a memorandum but the did not mgard it-as suf ciently Epeci c gm danoe and appointed a new panel of consult ants which was to report its views after sum manila of study Moan- wh e pending a de m tc determination the 3133' Committee on Atomic Energy voiced if beh ef the Air Force disen ng that the $213 million total cost of Long Range DetecHOn could be Spent more wisely in other eld of name and PM for Real 'Wh e all this budget battle was being waged ayemtiamal expel-iv once was emulating in the running of the iota-1m upezimmtal nd There were communjm Ons problems to ovum-June logistical support for the technical teams 1'12 the eld to be arranged operating manuals to be written criteria of signi cance to be rc ned and a host of similar matters to be llet care of It was arranged that the Nan-y mb sh on Kodiak Island in the inta ts of a naval r eaICh program 3 1 expu- ncntal station which would also form Part of not It had a aluminum roof and a spodn y designed run-off collection tank if there was no rain whom a radioactive cloud Passed over the station roof mobbing would be dirocted to collect the dxy fallout Air Weather now had 0qu lter-equipped 34295 and was reckoned to be ng some 1 300 personnel in died and seco Of the intuition net A substantial number of this oomplomcnt stationed in the contincntal United States wen available for alert scrambling to back up the programmed mcmance along the Ltcs iron G amnBexmu'da to the Pole which required 51' to sewn regular long range ights each 48 hours It was calmlatod that the schedule 6'0qu provide at last mperwnt cEcdtive coveraget 28 Joe I After the Sanastcme test the mh mum level of signi cant radio- activity was set at 100 whats minute for act- 11 lters and 300 for those at gmund level T1154 were made trim-Ea far an alert in the experimental detection system Wham a new Operating grandma was put into e ect an 1 August 19-69 the aerial mhiruum was drappad on the basis of accumulate-cl experience to 50 001mm pa - minute Every alert was treated as Indicating a Possible 309w 1111ch test butachoEthe ut leouldbe l-own to rz mt nothing man swims than a volcanic explosion earthquake or nouns variation in backgmund radioactivity One of con- fusion was eliminated when it Was found that curtain 13 29 which cam-Ismail indicatad radioactive contact upon return to has had been contaminated on dose in ights at Eniwetok Ah samPIing - settled into something of a ton Then shortly 15hr dinner on Sana-day maxing 3 September 1949 the report from Alaska that Set 0E Alert 11% came in to the Data Analysis Center in Washington 4 5 count par minute 01 n' lter paper airborne three hours over the north Paci c Almost imrnediately a companicrn gape the same Plane was clocked at 153 count 136 minute this wag dispatched to Tracerlab in Califomiz whither it wm d bc three days in transit by or inzu'y ighbi In the meantime the Alaska station madc mm ments of d my rates an the rst papa A successive mmements were reported and plotted at the Wash 1111an Center lit becamc mare 31113 more widest there that there must be fresh ssion Produci in the atmosth Still it could badly be bomb debris a classi ed chart left in the Canter - from Friday's intelligence brie ng gave the latest estimate on the date of the rst Soviet nuclear test as follows EaJ-h cct Fumble 1951 Most My 1953 Pemhly 1955 Unless ler was something mg With this mcubla Sunday and Manday of the Labor Day weekend found the staff anxiously foIlawing the hi hourl deny meannemenl on the SAmple and sending out more miss-ions Was this Pickup mm the leading edge or from the tail end of a radioactive cloud 'Scc comma 2 above 5561 325- Joel To answer this qum on ights Were scheduled 15mm A1251 to Hawaii on' Sunday and from California to Alaska on Monday hating one want-1y and one easterly interceyt am Later a special 1113331011 was seat from ash to search the arm north and cast ova the Beaufort But the gums-titan was answered aunt these special ights Monday evening 5 9n unwedfmm Japan A at 10 000 fact just ukt of 1293 oi 'hi he I Aleutian chain ca y on September andby swam-m vodka-n Japan oh 6 Septanber Pod ve interception was zen-Ported from the California-Alaska and Malia-Ham ight Naming Con nna on collect as many Sampr is pomble A11 tqla bd wecn 3 and 16 September the 92 wedal Air Weathe ights sampling the are ram Guam to the No h Pole and ram California t0 the British 13119 col- lected more than 500 radioactive samples 167 of them above 1 000 count per minute The ight crew had not been b e-zfed on the highly classi ed dc- tec on mission 'I hcy Only knew that at 19 ther threahour hatervals on mu nc High the 13-29 would be deprmu zed so that - a new piece of papa amid be inserted in the sampler mounted'an M SW Joe I indimtedth dxmm with the bomb dcb s was 1611' ng the American mutinmt handed for the British I316 The Prmidmt's was obtained to nadfy British authm-i es and in an all-night classi cd chm ml tachniqua making calibration an material irradiated at 11 Lo Mamas Scienti c Laboratory One mh'bmtiub not yet made consumed naphmiizm ig A huny-up call to Los Mamas for Lb required irradiation ova the wake-ad of 10 September 2nd ddivcxy of the to Trina-lab On Monday This permit-tad dz additional rm conclum'mn that Uri-01 11113 of - normal uranium were c-mployed in the Sovid devicggh found to contain Luggc mp1 of the nuclear dcbn s To get another iudcgr-cndem analyst's 2 13 38111211 lter paper was smut t0 Lox Alana Scienti c All swear ware Elm for gen-Physical mam 01- con rmr Bu no acoustic wavc from the could be found in the records of the Signal Cups' acoustic net and the Ccast Sunty s telcseimic network Shaweci Do 54 35ch mva from the USSR The absence of acoustic and seismic data prevented any close data-mha oa GE the beation time and yield of the Soviet 31 Joe I Step and Co A clowning fate picked this juncture to have the RDB study Panel formed in the spring Ls report It commended on 12 ting the research am phase of the long ring program And Lhat Lb LRD budget fer FY 50 be rcduccd to I gure $1 7 million lawn than what had alrcacIy been obligated By 16 Septembcr this had bean approx ad on up the line and Eh RDH Smcd 1 5109 order annealing furducr LED expandi- turcs In View of what LRD its on at moment hoch-cr W1 able in permadc RDB chmmau Compton to revem this order Dr Bush wartime head of the Of ce of Scienti c Ecscuch' and was asked to chair a panel to rcm cw the LED a cnded by cf 11 agcncics concerned the radio analysis laborato u and the British sun-la muted the data available and Its conclusions Analysis of 52mph bad idcn od ncptunium 239 and ssipn Iprod ucts Agni 131m Zr 3 3141i Rum Rum Ratio of these products mab shed the date of ssion air mass out dates 2539 August placard the some some-where ova Ash the cast 35d and 170111 mcn'ch ans It m concluded in 0W phenomena an IR consistent with the View that the Origin a the ssion product has the explode f an atomic ham when node composithn mu Lo the Alan-agenda 50ml 5 A variety 0 chmm've explanations have becn pmposacL Upon earn - m au mo of the nuns out to be technically likely Of that which time-ugh unlikely rat mmistml With the chu 11 cal 01- Lh use of End-ugh plufcmjum to hug mad LE1 atomic Bomb 6 We bu-darn bch'cv that Lu noun bomb has begun dalomhd u tut ad 32 ttRE-h Joe I The ndings of the Bush panel were reported to President frozen and on 23 September a meeting was held in the of the 13 51- dent s Seeretmy Steven Eariy to discuss the text and timing of a Presidential announcement There was a recommendation for a few days' delay to permit a more complete radiochemical analysis Before the chairman could act on this M19 Early was intmupted by a telephone all After listening brie y he hung up the Phane and said d'Cexxtisrnen the Pre dcnt's manneement must he released immediately I have been lformcd that 1 rumor of the Soviet atomic test has just crossed the tied and will he on the street in an hour Latcr plutonium was separated the Kodiak rainmter by the Naval Research Laboratory This plutemium sample puri ed at Les Mamas was found by a plutonium chemist the University of Cali- fornia lab to have an isotopic comp-mitten indicating origin in nuclea explosion rather than in a reactor ecddemt Then a minute reexamination of acoustic records revealed weal signals at two stav tions These established the location of Joe 1 at Sem-ipalatinsk the- time as 0100 GMT 0 1 28 August 1949 and the yield as abOut 20 Hotel On 17 October Dr Bush wrote General Vandenberg that his panel which included Oppenheimer among others had asked him to oom- - mend the excellent work done by the agencies involved His letter concluded It is fortunate that the Air Farce ntituied this wo early 1nd that it was pushed with thoroughness and skill This is one undertaking which has mt eertzixdyiaaidoif importance and I trust its perfumand in the future will con rm to the high Standards which it has ilneady set This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu