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Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
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ATOMIC ENEEQY COMMISSION It 16 clear that with the entrance of nuclear weapona’’ln the realm of megaton yields,’new concepts of clvillandefenee. weapons over any portion of the United States. was recognizedboth by the AEC and by the Federal Clvll’Defense A&minlstratlon1$ demonstratedin part by exchange of correspom Defense Administratorja “sanitized”version of the motion pictu onOperation Ivy has been prepared for showingbeforethe.group: by the White House on December 14 and 15. , The filmj a deleted version of the film .llOPeratlon7vY’”~ show’scertain of the footage pertainingtothe Mike Shot of his staff_onNovember 25, 1953.) All informationwhich would~,g any Indicationas to the nature of thethermonuclear.reactions tictipnIs brought about, has been deleted from the”’filmleaving only’theclear indicationthat the detonationwas that of a ther nuclear device. While all specificmention of the’yield.of.Ivy i?ikehas been deleted from the film, 8Ufflcientinfor~tion nema to permit calculationof an approximateyield by a tech,nlcally qualifiedperson. This informationhas been allowed to remain.i the modified version since to remove it would destroY the useful ness of the’film. The Commissionhas determinedthatdeclasstfi tion of the yield of the Mike devlcea OPeratlOnIVY, to bhi$ extent will not adversely affect the common. defenBe and sec;url It does not give any indicationas to how such a device is desig or built or any Indicationas to how It operates. Moreover, the yield of Mike is well within that which our foremost scientists In addition, the observedyield of any particulardevice does no In any way lmpIy that such a device is the most powerful or leas
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powerfulwhich we are able to build; It indicatesmerelY the -’”’i+.;c$~~ power (the yield) of the specificdevice tested. While this. .-.$~tj;s declassificationof the calculableyield of a 8pecificdevice ‘++::?:@--- is contrary to paragraph 12b(6) of the Joint AEc-D@ class~f@a::;i~%&; tion Guide, it Is not considerednecessarY to revise ‘heGuide” +~”z: at this time since such revisionwould apply the declasslflcation~-.~~ F action In this case to all other such weaPons or devices. .“’,Z~~..,”,-L: In addition to the yield of the Mike’device’j” OperationIvy film may also imply that the Mike device was probably,.(?< not a deliverabledevice. This Is not clear from the picture’:~~’{;~~~~ since no view of the device Itself is shown, The fact t~t’it?.is.u:.:,y on the ground may be explained on the basis of the requirement:y>~!~:~<~ for extensive scientificmeasurements (e.gt the 2 mile hel,l~:+fi’~~:,$ box), and the size of the “house”door, on the basis Of m@or,iz?d-;:~7~~ equipmentsuch as cranes. Moreover the dellverabllltyor noq@’t”~ :;~j~: deliverabilityof the Mike device bears no relationshipto Whethe? ~fl;j? Lastly some of the methods of measuringVJeaPon shown in somewhatgreater detail than has heretoforebeen .relea.se~~’-c IIoweverjmuch Informationof this type Is already reclassifiable ‘$?%% Involvingas it does instrumentationand unclassifiedtechnlque,s:}:‘.,+,;.;., At present there Is no specificplan t; show thla version-of~~’,, House conferenceof mayors on December . However, it is Possi?l%<~z~ that another version will be proposedadaPtln6 the ~terial of, ~-,;# the film for use in civil defense educationand the enllstment”of.,::...... volunteerworker?. We would appreciateyour cement on such an ;:-’,~:;~ adaptation. There would of course be an OPPOrtunltYfor You to “’<,..-$ see and comment upon it before public rele,asewas made.