Airgram to Dos, Subject: Ambassador's Trip to Thule and Press Reaction (No Enclosures)

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INT lab TAR army CIA NAVY DEPARTMENT OF STATE A-U38 UNCLASSIFIED HANDLINC INDICATOR TO Department of State Amembassy COPENHAGEN DATE: March 5, 1968 Ambassador’s Trip to Thule and Press Reaction r BEST AVAILABLE COPY Ambassador White, acc Danish officials and Thule Air Base for th debris from the B-52 the activities, vith radioactivity and ass ompanied by a small group five Copenhagen journalist ree days to observe progre crash.. She found the Air ced dt spite severe weather rning newspapers reported high praise for the Air Fo scientific cooperation in uring the safety of the ne of Embassy and rce and for the Ambassador Katharine Elkus White visited Thule and the site of January's B-52 crash between February 2h and 27 to observe recovery operations and the general effect of the accident. She was accompanied by three Embassy officers -- DCM Byron E. Blankinship, Air Attach^ Col. Ridgely D. Kemp and PAO Brooks Tearsheets from four Copenhagen newspapers: one set each for State and USIA; two sets for DOD UNCLASSIFIED dept, use only

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Greenland Affairs Erik Hesselbjerg, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Danish Atomic Energy Commission Hans H. Koch, and Foreign Office Press Counselor Kai Johansen. The party also included five top Danish journalists represent ing Copenhagen's three large morning newspapers; the Danish national news service, Ritzau's Bureau, and the Danish State Radio. Among these reporters was Jurgen Anker Nielsen, foreign editor of the Radical Liberal daily, Politiken, who is to become the paper's Washington correspondent later this month. Among the high points of the visit were a progress report for the official party by Maj. Gen. Richard 0. Hunziker, Commander of the SAC Disaster Control Team; a press briefing; a visit to Kanak, a settlement 50 miles north of Thule for Greenlanders originally transferred from the base site, and the decoration by the Ambassador of a Danish community leader for his inval uable assistance in the recovery operations. The Dane who was honored, Jens Zinglersen, is the Thule-area representative of the Greenland Ministry's Royal Greenland Trade Department. He was presented a medal representing the Exceptional Service Award, the Air Force's highest decoration for a foreign civilian, for organizing dog-sled teams and searching out the crash site immediately after the accident. He has since served as a volunteer consultant to Gen. Hunziker to advise on local conditions and enlist the cooperation of the nearby Greenland population. The Air Force citation noted that Mr. Zinglersen had many re sponsibilities of daily management as one of the key Danish officials in the Thule Air Base area., "but he nevertheless offered his services to the U.S. Disaster Control Team Commander on a full-time basis with no regard to remuneration." POE ARCHIVESThe citation added: "Mr. Zinglersen proved immediately responsive to every wish of the Disaster Control Team Commander in achieving and maximizing operational safety, although often disre garding personal safety to travel many hours in the bitter arctic weather at times in areas where he had been warned of possible radioactivity. "For his exceptional devotion far beyond the requirements

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of normal duty, and for the tangible achievements of his unselfish performance, Mr. Zinglersen has earned the admiration and gratitude of the U.S. Government and distinguished himself in service of international Commenting on her impressions of "Operation Crested Ice" the Ambassador summed up her views on the recovery activities in "I can say very honestly that since I've been up here I am even more impressed by the enormous difficulties under which this operation took place, and how very capably General Hunziker has handled this whole question of re moving debris. I must say I am full of admiration for how well it has gone and is continuing to go, and I am pleased to commend you. General Hunziker, for your very Mr. Koch added his observation that the Danish scientists were "full of admiration for the ability, skill and energy with which General Hunziker started and performed the entire operation." He emphasized that "there is complete agreement between U.S. and Danish scientists as to the evaluation of hazards, and to hazards not present, and to the procedures that have to be followed in the future to remove debris." The radiation monitoring, he said, did not indicate any risk but simply a desire to take all measures consistent with "good housekeep ing". Mr. Hesselbjerg then added his own words of appreciation for Danish-American cooperation and the excellent job already Summary of Press Coverage DOE ARCHIVES These expressions of satisfaction are reflected in the jour nalists' own evaluation of the operation. Following brief reports on the Zinglersen decoration, the three Copenhagen morning newspapers on February 29 carry large spreads on the visit. All reports are favorable, stressing the progress made under mid-Winter Arctic conditions and noting that the cleanup of debris is scheduled to be completed before May 1. The stories also dwell in some detail on the life of the Green landers nearby, underlining the fact that the crash would have no lasting effect on the community. They likewise stress the

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extensive work being done through Danish-American cooperation and make clear that the U.S. is doing everything possible to clean up the crash site and prevent damage to the Greenlanders and their trade. Most photos used to illustrate the articles were taken by Air Force photographers. The papers. Radical Liberal Politiken (circ. 1^2,353) and Social Democratic Aktuelt (circ. 38,785), carry six- and seven-column pictures on the front page from the crash site and additional five- and six-column stories inside the paper. The Radical Liberal Politiken ties in its page-one picture of the crash site vith a cable from the paper's New York cor respondent reporting that H-bomb flights vere stopped by Secretary McNamara a few days after the crash but that the Department of Defense would not comment. Politiken's coverage picks up on page 17 vith a five-column feature "spread" head lined: "A Jig-Saw Puzzle in 50 Centigrades of Cold. Clearing Operations After the Crash of the H-Bomber at Thule." The story says many pieces of wreckage have been found and stored in sealed containers, but the most difficult parts to recover remain to be found. General Hunziker, however, has assured that everything will be collected, the story adds. The General is described as driving his people as relentlessly as the Greenlanders drive their dogs. Politiken's reporter, J. Anker Nielsen, continues: "Whether one considers the entire operation as a political or a health effort, there can be no doubt -- after a visit to the place -- that the Americans have mobilized all ef forts to remove every remaining doubt about radiation danger, both in Denmark and among the Greenlanders." Mr. Nielsen quotes General Hunziker as saying that all investigations have demonstrated that only the metal fragments have been contaminated, and when they have been removed even the remotest risk will be eliminated. This view, Mr. Nielsen adds, was supported by the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Danish Atomic Energy Commission, H.H. Koch, who said: "We continue the investigations, but agree completely with the Americans that there is no danger. When everything must be removed all the same it is because we all feel that like in any good household one should not take any risk. Science considers negative results of its investigations as equally important as the positive." The Politiken story is accompanied by a two-column picture of Ambassador White and Mr. Koch in polar dress and a three-column picture of dog sledge teams

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near the crash site. Conservative Berlingske Tidenfle (circ. 169*608) carries a six-column story on page 10 under the headline: "Sun is Shining Again Over Thule a Month After the Crash of the H-Bomber. Thule Will be Clean in a Month. 3500 Cubic Meters of Snow to be Removed - the Greenlanders and Their Trade Will Suffer no Damage." The lead of the story, which summarizes the content of article, reads: "A month after the crash the situation here at Thule has changed radically from the days imme diately after the accident. At the Thule Air Base the clearing operations are going on, and one hopes to be through in a month's time. And in the new Thule, Kanak, the Green landers seem to be most occupied with the fact that the sun has just returned... From all sides in the new Thule and a few hundred kilometers further down South at the air base one seems to take an optimistic view of the situation. One thinks one has reason to believe that the crash will not in volve any damage to the inhabitants or the animals from which they live, and it is stressed that there is no reason what soever to imagine that Greenland fishing places and shrimp areas in the Disco Bay, 1,000 kilometers further South, will be affected in any way. And there is absolutely no reason for there to be any suspicion of the Greenland export prod ucts, fish and shrimps." It is noteworthy that this report by Berlingske's Greenland expert, Jurgen Felbo, constitutes a reversal of the same writer's story shortly after the crash (see A-368 of Jan uary 30). At that time, Mr. Felbo speculated that the whole "way of life" of the Greenlander may be destroyed. He noted, also, that the very presence of the Americans and their im ported civilization in the area had "influenced the morals" of natives. These negative thoughts are absent from the latest report. doe archives Mr. Felbo's story goes on to mention that Ambassador White inspected the crash site and presented a medal to Jens Zinglersen. General Hunziker is quoted on the search work, and article mentions -- as do those in the other papers -- that a thick layer of snow will be removed and flown out of Greenland. The rest of the article describes how the search work is being performed. The article concludes: "Everything thus indicates that the crash will not have any of the un-

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fortunate consequences which might have been feared immedi ately after the crash." The article in Berlingske Tidende is accompanied pictures. One is a three-column aerial photo of site; the others, each one column vide, show the decorating Mr. Zinglersen and a sign at the site Aktuelt carries three pictures on the front page, showing a medical station near the crash site, a dog-sledge team and a heating installation for the search crew. A seven-column article on page seven has two-column photo of the Ambassador presenting the medal, a four-column picture of the crash site and a two-column picture of a B-52. The headline reads: "Thule - A Month Later. General Hunziker Says Crash Site Will be Cleared in a Month. 3~^000 Tons of Ice to be Scraped The story says that the search for missing pieces of the plane will be finished in a month, but the crash site will still be under observation for some time. It then makes these points: When the ice breaks, the last phase of the work will be started to determine whether some of the debris had burned through the ice and now lies at the bottom of North Star Bay. The Amer icans are planning to use TV cameras on the bottom of the sea in their efforts to find more debris from the crash (a point not raised during the trip). General Hunziker's statements are quoted, as in the other articles, and special mention is made of the Zinglersen award. Both Mr. Koch and Mr. Hessel bjerg expressed their recognition of the cooperation between the American and the Danish scientists at Thule, Aktuelt __ story on page 5 under the headline: "5^6 Nuclear Garbage Collectors at Work for Months after the Thule Crash". The story is essentially the same as in the other papers and is based either on their coverage — since Information had no reporter on the jaress team -- or on a story from Ritzau's guarantee that there> is no ^radioactive radiation on the ice at Thule. They fcavebeeh working for more than a month on the ice without having been exposed to dangerous radiation.

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INCOMPLETE DOCUMENT REFERENCE SHEET The archive copy of this document is incomplete.