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or, Office of Teri tories Department of the Interior The Atomic Energy Commission, w i t h the concurrence and support of t h e Department of Defense and with the approval of the PI.esident, will conduct a series of nuclear tests Which Will be known a s Operztion HARDTACX a t the Eniwetok Proving Ground st;artj.ng in April 1958 and continuing for approximately three It therefore becomes necessary to reestablish a danger area currounding the Atolls of Eniwetok and Bikini. After studying the test program, the test conditions, and the weather patterns r-cmnally expected during the period the test operation will be conducted, it has been decided t o use a dan er area like that vii.iich was used for Operation REDWING i n 1&?, except that both the east and west boundaries will be displaced two degrees, ox' approximately 120 nautical miles, t o the west. This new danger area is described i n the attached proposed Notice and Chart. We believe that this change will result in a shortened $he safety and well-being of the inhabitants of the Marshall Xslands during these tests. We are again taking every feasible pr>ecaution t o prevent exposure of these peoples tothe hazards EW WING and which proved so successful i n safeguarding the Nlsrshall Islands people will be augmented on the basis of the ea:perience gained during that test series and the technical c.divances which have been made since t h a t time. The network of' weather observing stations providing information to Joint Task Force SEVEN has been increased and wlll lead toa sign iri cant improvement i n the accuracy of the basic weather ds.ta used in the prediction of fallout patterns. IBd-safe stations will be operated, a t Rongelap Wotho, Ujelang and Utirik. The personnel at these stations will be ready t o advise and assist, Weare very much aware of our responsibilities for insuring The measures which were instituted during Operation
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as well a s warn, the inhabitants in the event of an kmergency, i n the same manner a s during REDWING. A noteworthy advance i n technique has been the installation of an IBM 704 computing machine a t Eniwetok which will be used t o speed up the computation of weather forecasts and fallout patterns, to their home island through the joint efforts of the Department of Interior, the Department of Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission last June is the stationing of a Public Health Service medical officer on Rongelap full time during the HARDTACK operstional period. Another interesting sidelight is that a recent study by Joint Task Force SEVEN shows that, if required, the operational forces could complete the evacuation of a threatened Atoll before hazardous fallout would occur. Of cwrse, we do not expeot that such a drastic measure would ever be required i n view of the constant improvement i n our techniques, but we are not neglecting any possibilities. of' the estzblishnent of the danger area. We request that until %hat release you handle the daiiger area notice irs Confidential Feel free to call upon me. Of special interest to the Rongelap people, who were returned Inthe very near future we will make a public announcement I f you have any questions coiicerning these matters please Brigadier General, USA Director of Military Application