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UNITED STATES ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION

In the Matter Of:

CLASSIFIED TESTIMONY OF:

MERVIN J. KELLY

Place - Washington, D. C.
Date - April 13, 1954

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ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY

0./ficial 7{eporters
306 Ninth S~t. N. W••
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Washinqton 4. D. C.

ASSOCIATES IN PRINCIPAL CITIES

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Q Doc 4 .. ve before me a photostat from the

report of Dec be 29 , 1950.,

A I s y • t is undoubtedly the report.

I
Q Ent tle "Military Objectives in the Use of

Atomic Energy". s that your report?

A That is ri tht. I would expect that to be the title.

Q Submit d o the Atomic Energy Committee of the

Research and D v lo ~ nt Board of the Department of Defense.

A Yes.,

Q I w 11 r 11 the excerpt paragraphs I have here:

"1. V tory in a genera 1 war in the near future is

likely todepe · o r i a ing to bear in a 11 aspects of our

military oper · ions the maximum application of atomic weapons."

"3. The ost urgent requirements for research and

development 1 e n the field of fission weapons.''

"12. I ive stu~y of thermonuclear warheads

as has been esta .is , d that they are more uncertain and

much more dif icul of d velopment and if achievable, much

more costly in nuclear materials than were thought a year ago.

"13. Tl· d termination of the feasibility of

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thermonuclear ve pons ~s an important but very definitely

long range und rt ~ing (more than five years)o"

This ha b en extracted for security reasonso

"14. Only a timely recognition of the long range

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character of the monuclear program will tend-to make

available for th ic tudies of the fission weapon program

the resources o Los Alamos laboratoryo"

Docs fr sh your recollection as to your report?

A I ha u . that is there. Those statements

would have such 1 · mpinging on my memory that I sti 11

don't ret . ber sions about it. In the first place,

the whole bac~ f is, and my expertness and

contribution w things that I knew as the technical

leader of Sandi of that time, the thermonuclear had

not reached the discussion stage at all~ That is a

long report, an t must be a relatively small part. Any

statement about • t s of the thermonuclear I would have

had to rely on there that were in that. I haven't he

time and don't ~to get over bto things that don't

reach my cogniz 0 I knew the genera 1 situation and kn'

the discussions t dvisory committe~and so on, but I

had really not mind to the thermonuclear problemo It

did not reach s until quite a bit later.

Q Dr. · l , upon whom would you have had to rely

with respect to ;h rmonuc lear?

A The pe •ho would know, as nuclear physicists

that were there be Bacher, Alvarez, and Dr. Oppenheimera

I i;hink a 11 the t of us would -- prbbably Lauritsen to a

__.11 t:t le less ext -- but all the rest ·of us would ·have been
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dependent up the judgments of ::. er ~

Alvarez, and e· I ~otld certainly have respe tOd in

that area. Jut o 't r member that part of the delibera~ion

at a 11. It ..r.;::, • -n y m4nd. If they were in the

committee, I d ' e her .. hem.

(' Did 0 . he · a nd Alvarez at that time?

A Yes, 11..

Q You
., dy , if I recall, that Dr.

Oppenheimer i t in this field.

A Th t

(Conclusion of i sec;ion of Kelly _testimony.)