t i DECLASS I '11 · ' • I NMD 26QU t ' ·· ·- • ••• ' • A thority 20792 ecia ss ified Pam· Je lmke Date 10-21-2013 © c · 22 October 1962 · - MEMORANDUM FO G NERAL T AYLOR SUBJECT US Nuclear Attacks '· ·' - ' '-· I I ' Dr 'Johnson's analysis provides tentativ quantitat lve estimates for several qualitative statements which seem reasonablj'· 2 •t · t - 11 wea ons '- ' - f 1 Dr Johnson Mr McNamara 1 s Assistant £or' At mic Energy has over the past years shown particular interesf·tn --- -· two subjects l small yield and Z clean ·weapons On 19 September he sent the Secretary of Defense a preliminary analysis - of the USSR fatality figures resulting from various forms and levels of US strategic nuclear attacks His analysis is limited to fatal ity figures with no estunate of the non-fatality casualti ls but it is useful within its limits OIA b 1 OSD N I· - '·· ·· _ - _·· ''· ·· · - _· _ • I b Air· bur·sts surface bur st wea ons i c roduce far less fata 1ties even Attacks a 3 Dr Johnson recognizes the limitations of his st udy and e tentative nature of his conclusions but he believes lt demonstrates clean weapons can serve a useful purpose in furth-erini ou r national objective of reducing casualties in any war His· wrai fup conclusion· demonstrates that he recognizes that weapons and str i tegy interact to influence casualties · · · -- - _ • _ C D' • • ' ' The targeting philosopl lo Off jmporui£ t •• · n type ft n affe ctin _________ tta cks _ - e · · · • _ • · · llEW I' r7• - f_ - -- -1 1 7if 7 1 J -·-- TI·i ·r• · L·NUMSE l •·L - v i t · c-c1 i -- i 1 ll ' ' ' c '1 fft'· i 1 · N o LA ·- i 1 1-C AP•J HJ NG O k' r TO ' ' f 'i ' '·i· W iJ t J u ' ' ' - 9•i f ' J IN 0 i c••··• tr l'ITV· m_r• i · ' · · ' - - LIL ·sff - J CtA 1 1n AtJOr- CA t · c Ao flf 1NfO R r ff OTHEA SPEC fY pjl f NN# 20192 Doc d '652031 • - -· - _ °' 1111 ------ SECRET - 2 - employing all clean or all normal weapons as well as attacks employing all air bursts or all surface bursts ate not the most efficient and are thus not realistic Optimum targeti air and surface rOIA b 1 OSD J • w ·s w • s __ -_ _ ___ NW# 20792 ' - _ Docid 652031 _____ __ -------'----- ----- - -- ·---- · _ -----····· ·•·-