THE SALTING OF AMERICA
THE SALTING OF AMERICA
(Is Much of the Eastern U.S. Now an Irradiated No Man's Land with Anthrax as a Cover-up?)
OLD SALT
RW=RADIATION WEAPON, NO CONCUSSION, JUST RADS
3 October 1949
IN REPLY REFER TO: CMIWR-SP 322/61
SUBJECT: Pubic Release on RW Tests at Dugway Proving Ground
TO: Director of Logistics
General Staff, U.S. Army
Washington 25, D. C.
1. It is the opinion of the Chemical Corps that a public release of some type should be made relative to the forthcoming tests of RW muitions at Dugway Proving Ground, Tooele, Utah, starting 18 October 1949.
2. A properly worded statement by the Department of the Army seems preferable to the sometimes irresponsible scare stories emanating from poorly informed reporters. A peacetime operation of this type will probably draw public notice sooner or later regardless of the security procedures adopted. The territory being used for the tests is being surveyed continually by prospectors for radioactive ore, so that an unusual amount of radioactivity found by such prospectors would certainly draw attention to the area.
3. Dr. Joseph G. Hamilton, Chairman of the RW Test Safety Panel, has indicated that he thinks a public release on the RW munitions tests should be made. He has suggested that the release state that tests with radioactive materials will be conducted at Dugway and that the purpose of these tests is to obtain decontamination data for use in preparing defensive doctrine.
4. It is understood that the Committee on Atomic Energy of the RDB, in a meeting during May 1949, considered an agenda item containing a draft of a letter to the Secretary of Defense which recommended a release on the general RW program. It is further understood that this meeting overruled the desirability of such a letter to the Secretary.
5. The enclosed draft of a public release on tests to be conducted at Dugway has been written in the vein suggested by Dr. Hamilton. There is no reference to the general RW program or to the use of radioactive materials in the Dugway area for the purpose of formulating defensive doctrine. This type of release should provide sufficient information to satisfy the curious who might hear of the tests and should quell any fears for individual safety that could arise from inopportune stories.
6. A decision on the desirability of a release such as that enclosed is requested.
FOR THE ACTING CHIEF, CHEMICAL CORPS:
/s/ WILLIAM M. CREASY
Colonel, CM1 C
Chief, Cm1 C Res & Eng. Div
The Advisory Committee is authorized by its charter to examine "experiments involving intentional environmental releases of radiation that (A) were designed to test human health effects of ionizing radiation; or (B) were designed to test the extent of human exposure to ionizing radiation." The charter also called for the Committee to "provide advice, information, and recommendations" on the following thirteen experiments and similar experiments identified by the Interagency Working Group.
DOE Openness: Human Radiation Experiments
OMEGA FILE BRANTON