Evening star., 1949-04-22
BY Phelps Adoms
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When the Atomic Energy Com
missions fifth semi.annual report
was published some weeks ago.
complete with aerial photographs
Of Key plants at Oak Ridge. Tenn,
and Hanford. Wash. it brought
down upon the commissions head
q storm Of protest and q torrent
Of abuse.
Congressmen. newspapers and
the public wanted to know what
particular form Of stupidity had
prompted the commission TO offer
this priceless material to Americas
potential enemies, all bound in one
convenient volume, ut o price OF
As cents.
The truth Ia that the commits
sion was not to blame and-so far
as the pictures are concerned-is
guilty only Of overcharging the
enemy. Similar aerial photographs
were released by the Army and the
White House back in ls45. and
any tourist visiting Oak Ridge to-
day can buy them In postcard
form for q penny or two.
Most Dangerous Disclosure.
The most dangerous disclosure
Of Americas atomic secrets oc-
CURED at the time President Tru-
man officially announced the sue
cessful detonation of an atomic
bomb over Hiroshima and the ex-
plosion Of the test weapon at
Alamagordo. Reams Of informa-
ton were sent out by the Army,
and dozens of photographs show
ing many of the principal atomic
plants and laboratories were dis
tributed to newspapers.
Then came the Smythe Report,
which might have been entitled.
How to Make an Atomic Bomb"
because Of the wealth OF scientific
material IT contained on the sub
ject Of nuclear physics.
All this had been released by
the Army and its Manhattan
Engineering District, under Maj.
Gen. Leslie G. Groves, long before
the Atomic Energy Commission
was created by Congress or David
Lilienthal was confirmed as Its
chairman.
And it seemed like a good idea
at the time.
The Government had spent more
than 81, 600 .000. 900 on their atomic
bombs and was anxious to justify
this expenditure by telling the
taxpayers Of the seemingly insur-
mountable obstacles 1t had been
necessary TO overcome. and BY Civ.
ing them some idea Of the tre-
r1iel1dous sise Of the plants, which
devoured raw materials by the
trainload and sent out the finished
product in q tiny capsule carried
in . briefcase.
Security Safeguards.
Scientists and top engineering
personnel, who had lived for years
under almost intolersbly rigid Sc
curity safeguards and whose re-
search had been compartmental-
lied to the greatest possible de-
gree, were eager to exchange free
ly the information regarding their
discoveries and to fit it into the
over pattern Of general nuclear
knowledge. More than 100000
workers who had toiled for as long
as three years without having the
slishtest idea what they were pro-
ducing suddenly discovered that
they were the authors Of the
atomic age and were bursting to
|teI their wives and their friends
All about 1t. II
Americas atomic secrets. there
fore, had been broken UP into tiny
fragments and hopelessly scat
tered throughout q large part of
the population. The purpose Of
the smythe Report was twofold;;
70 correlate the scientific frag-
ulCuU8 No q UdSC uPOAI WAiiSA Au
ture research might be founded
ana to define the limits within
which hitherto secret information
might be released.
By releasing the information
that was necessary to the further
scientific progress of the atomic
energy program and by publicizing
such secrets as there was no prac-
tieal prospect of safeguarding. the
Government hoped to protect even
more security the hard core OF
vital secrets which 1t still retains.
Today the Atomic Energy Com.
mission operates on exactly the
same basis. The Atomic Energy
Act, under which it functions. re-
quires II 10 keep secret all infor-
nation necessary to protect the
common defense and security"
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