Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-09-06
No Other Choice

President Kennedy has done the
right and imperative thing in ordering
the resumption of underground nucIear
tests, which cause no health-endanger
ing fallout. Certainly as he has ex-
planned in his brief and admirable
statement on the subject, our Govern
ment, in striving for nearly three years
past to work out with the Russians an
adequately policed ban on all such ex-
perimentation, has taken every step
that reasonable men could Justify"
But now, because of the KremIin's
sudden decision to resume atomic
hydrogen detonationS in the earth's
atmosphere, we must take chose steps
which prudent men find essential. We
have no other choice. E"
This is So this fact of no other
choice, because the security and very
survival of our country and the free
world as whole could be gravely i'm
periled if we continued to debar our
selves from testing while the Russians
staged shot after shot designed to help
them develop weapons that might give
them decisive advantage over us.
Actually, even if the Kremlin had not
resumed atmospheric detonationS (the
kind that can unleash radioactivity
capable of doing genetic harm to the
human race, the United States would
have had good reason to reactivate its
program of underground explosions,
together perhaps with some in outer
space.
Indeed, well over 1S months ago,
some of our most knowledgeable ex-
pertS began eXhorting the United
States to resume such testing without
delay. This they did because of the fact
that there is at present no effective
means of detecting underground shots
and that therefore the Kremlin could
easily have staged clandestine expert
mentS throughout the So-called mora
forum that began in October of 1858.
Perhaps the Russians have not really
cheated on us in this fashion, but they
could have done so quite readily in view
of our easy-going truStfulnesS. That is
why our Atomic Energy Commission, in
its last ANIMAL report to Congress, warned
as follows:
Nuclear weapons development is not a
static science. Important advances in weapons
design are Observation-Disclosures which would
have great military significance Our
weapons scientists are convinced that further
nuclear testing would achieve major ad-
vanceS. .
The military advantages to be gained
from clandestine nuclear testing are great,
anc the probabilities of detecting and iden-
Trying clandeStine tests are very small This
will be the free worlds situation so long as
there is an unpoliced de facto moratorium on
nuclear weapons testing.
Well, all that particular kind of
American risk taking now has come to
an end-and none too Soon-as a result
Of the Presidents decision. This does
not mean, of course, that our Govern
ment will not continue to strive for a
trustworthy ban agreement, a first step
toward which would be Premier Khru-
ShchevS acceptance of Mr. KennedyS
and Prime Minister Macmillan's pro-
poSal for an immediate and lasting halt
to atmospheric tests Unhappily, how
ever, such acceptance, even though the
proposal would require no policing of
the type called Espionage" by the
Kremlin, is not likely to be forthcom-
ing. In the circumstances, nothing
could be more important than for our
country to move forward as fast as
possible with the program ordered by
the President