NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY20


.one knew of a single case of a scientist who refused to work on thesa
developments because Of security-regulations or secrey. H esaid, that
The freedom comes through the magnificent facilities that are available
.and that all the scientists he knew would much rather have the facili-
-ties than theoright to publish material on their work. In a recent tour
,of the country he had :talked with many of the men who actually work
on the H-bomb and he found none who felt that such work should not,
'e done.; Among ,"takers" :he finds a-.strange inconsistency in
that
those who0once thought the atomic bomb was a terrible thing now have
no such scruples about it but have transferred their sense of horror to
the H-bomb.
   He labeled the cost of atomic developments as "chicken-feed",
and
said thatwe should be spending ten times as much. He saidfurther
that expanded developments in the atomic field produce more, lnot..
-fewer, physicists; that, by the very nature of what it is that makes,
first-class scientists, the more work there iS to do, the faster neww ones
are. bred. As top mean in ech laboratory and plantare pulled out to
start-something-new, one finds that not only are thereý capable'young
men to take their places, but that the young men have newer-ideas and
'produce them much faster than the older men--and he included him-
self in the latter categry'.
   He said that'he was personally optimistic about the.development
of new. types of atomic weapons as well as radiologica weapons, and
he felt that the time wasi not-far off when there would be.those which
could insure the defense of Europe and which, furthermore, might be
put into the h-ands ofouir allies to use themselves. We will only'be able
to develop such things, however, if we spend-more money and energy
,on the whole field' of atomic energy. It was, headded, pointless to
think; about such developmens running in a straght line into the
future. On the contrary, these developments spread .out in all direc.-
tions and quite unpredicted usesi are often fo-iund: for,-new, ideas.,
Putting it another way, you develop the efficiency of one weapon on a
rising curve but you don't have to worry about that part of the curve
which begins to slant downward because.before that point is reached,
something new pops up which continues the curve on upwards.
  He expressed, as his personal opinion, that no technical control of
atomic weapons was possible without a. complete opening up of Russia.
  In response to specific questions, he said that not only were such
plants as the one at Hanford completely old-fashioned land inefficient
now but that he could foresee new raw materials ,and techniques
which would make possible "bathtub" operations.
  His major thesis-was that our safety lies-in being farther ahead
scientifically and productively -than the Russians.


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