Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-06-14
'Operotion Greenhouse


For obvious security reasons, authoritative
officials - civilian and military - continue to
dance noncomittal Jig around all questions
seeking specific information on how much, or
how little, the United States has achieved in
research and development aimed at producing
the hydrogen bomb and such other revolutionary
things as atomic warheads for artillery shells
and guided missiles. Yet, though this Is a sub
ject that probably will be kept under wraps for
a long time to come, there can be no doubt that
highly significant, and possibly breath taking,
progress has already been made In our stepped
up A-weapons project.
The latest evidence on that score can be
found in the statements and remarks made in
the Pentagon yesterday at the Joint news con-
ference staged by the Defense Department and
the Atomic Energy Commission. What the con-
ference has confirmed is that the April-May
Eniwetok tests-the supersecret Operation
Greenhouse" carried out under the command of
Lieutenant General Elwood r. Quesada-were
successful in every respect" and that they had
to do, among other things, with A-weapons "sev-
eral times more powerful than the extremely
deadly Hiroshima NagasaN type
In connection with these tests as well as
with the ones conducted earlier this year in
Nevada, Acc Chairman Gordon Dean has been
at pains to emphasize that nobody in an In
formed position has ever said that 1--WE either
have hydrogen bomb have tested hydrogen
bomb, or are on the verge of producing hydro
gen bomb" Even so. while neither affirming
nor denying anything in that respect, he and
others-like General Quesada and Dr. Alvin C.
Graves, the Los Alamos scientist who was In
charge OF the recent Eniwetok experiments
have definitely declared that those experiments
have contributed" to the development of such
,~,I,&~ IL. nan-
devastating as the destroyer that shattered
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Further, without say
ing so directly, they have indicated that atomic
artillery and atomic guided missiles may be near
enough to make the Kremlin think long, hard
thoughts about the value of huge land armies.
Speculative possibilities to one side, however
what can be said specifically about Operation
Greenhouse" is that the tests involved in it, as
General Quesada has explained, have success
tully served the following detectives: (1) To
develop simple and reliable radiation detection
devices; (2) to acquire better understanding of
the atomic cloud and its meteorological struc-
ture; 90 to get a clearer idea of what nuclear
detonations do to tanks and similar military
equipment; "a to collect data useful in for
mulating operational tactics in the neighborhood
OF A-nlasts as well as to help establish new
design criteria for combat aircraft Us "drone"
guinea-pig role in the experimental; (5) to work
out by studying how the explosions affected
MICE dogs and swine biomedical program for
the treatment of human casualties: (6) TO figure
out ways OF predicting blast damage and of mini
MIXING such damage to military and industrial
facilities; and CD to proof-test A-weapon adj
vances, contribute to thermonuclear research
1.-THE H-bomb) and attain fuller basic knowl-
edge OF the effects of the very great energies
released in detonation."
Summed up in just that way, the Eniwetok
tests of General Quesadas Joint Task Force
Three'-tests involving the efforts of almost
9,0oo civilian and military personnel and calling
Tor the most delicate and complex instrumental
ton, including cameras operating at speeds up-
ward OF million frames per second-may seem
somewhat too technical to be of much interest to
the average layman. Yet in terms of the lives
of all of us, their significance is undoubtedly far
reaching For one thing, as pointed out at
yesterdays conference, what has been learned
from them will be OF great value to civilian
oe1enSe 1.-THE danger of residual radioactivty for
example, has been found to be not nearly so
serious as indicated in the official Bikini reports
OF l946). Beyond that-and this is their chief
lmportance-the mere fact that they have taken
place, and have been described as complete
success, is in itself proof positive of portentous
progress in our atomic project
Nor is there any sign that that progress is
near an end. On the contrary, as has been
officially announced, Operation Greenhouse" is
to be followed at frequent intervals by other
tests of a similar kind-and every such test may
rightly be regarded as an indication of additional
advances. The hydrogen bomb may still be
long way off, and things like atomic artillery
and atomic submarines may not be just around
the corner But between-the-lines reading of
the Eniwetok reports fills one with the plausible
and somewhat chilling suspicion that the
united States If not other countries, is moving
steadily toward a revolutionary new world in
which indescribable catastrophe may be the sole
alternative to an enduring peace.