Evening star., 1947-03-21
Atom Scientists Urqe
Measures 10 Reduce
.Vu|nerabiIity Of U. 5.
BY the Assoeia,sd Press

CHICAGO, Mar. 2l.-The Social
Science Research Councils Com
mittee on Atomic Energy asserted
yesterday that any international
atomic agreement would not for
ever Danish the possibility" Of atomic
warfare and released details OF
study for reducing the vulnerability
of the United States to any such
attack.
The study covered two phases
steps which could be taken In the
event an international agreement is
reached banning the production Of
atomic weapons and possible protec-
tive steps II atomic armaments are
unlimited by agreement in the
United Nations
A condensation of the study, pre-
pared by Ansley Coale, Princeton,
N. j., committee secretary, appeared
in the Bulletin of the Atomic Sci
entists, which is published by many
of the scientists who pioneered In
the development of the atomic bomb.
Useful Adjunct to Agreement.
The report contended that meas
ures for reducing the vulnerability
of targets of great strategic inn
portance, such AS the National Cap
ital and the Nations military po-
tential, would thus be a useful
adjunct to (any) agreement itself,
in reducing the probability to atomic
aggression"
1t added that vulnerability reduc.
ton should be limited to measures
which could be freely recommended
to all subscribing powers
In general the report cited pos
siole steps for protecting active
combat forces and their equipment.
for preserving the capacity of the
Nation for unified action" and for
insuring the production and delivery
Of war materials.
Steps for Protection.
These included dispersion. under
ground protection, independence Of
transport from major cities and i'm
portant bottlenecks. designation Of
successors for members of the gov
ernment who might be killed, re-
locating of various agencies and
duplication of files and other equip
ment
1t added that death and injury
might be lessened by reducing the
density of population in the large
urban areas by any feasible method,
possibly including building deep
shelters" of huge size or by tempo
rary evacuations.
ITO say that massive casualties
could not be avoided by protective
measures is not to say that pre-
cautions would be worthless. Every
means available should be exploited
for inducing less concentrated
pattern of habitation. Large deep
shelters should be constructed
underground. Food stocks and other
stores should be accumulated in
protective places Of storage"
Two Phases If Atomic War.
The report prefaced the possible
steps with these observations:
THE prior existence Of an effec-
tive agreement would not prevent
the use of atomic weapons in war
fare. Rather, the agreement would
eliminate the possibility Of large
scale attack and counterattack in
the opening days Of the war.
There would thus be two phases
in a post-agreement war; a first
period of uncertain duration during
which atomic bombs would be un-
availabl for large-scale use. and
second when atomic weapons might
be employed on large and perhaps
ever-rising scale"
Thousands Of Bombs.
If no treaty limitation is placed
on atomic armament. the study said,
any war following the multilateral
accumulation of thousands of atomic
bombs would quite possibly open
with reciprocal stacks Of terrible
magnitude. ''' Reduction OF vul-
nerabilitv must have been completed
at the time war starts. and protec-
ton must have been provided
against very large-scale attack. =
IN view of the probable decisive
magnitude of the early attacks, the
primary method of protection for
the production of military material
would be to complete that produce
ton in advance OF the war ="
The bulletin also said the United
States should request mo more de-
lays or evasions" from the Soviet
Union on the issue of world atomic
control.
Because Of Russian criticism Of
the United States plan ut is now
up to the Soviet Union to present a
scheme of inspection comprehensive
enough to put at rest all fears OF
clandestine developments" the bull
letin declared.