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After discussing the atomic intelligence report with his advisers, President Kennedy looked around at the glum circle and said, "All right. Just what did you gentlemen expect after all of the Soviet shots?'' The President said that the U.S., despite considerations of international opinion, would surely have to resume atmospheric atomic testing if the nation's survival and that of our Allies seemed at stake. He said that he had explained the U.S. position to Britain's Prime Minister Harold Macmillan—and that Macmillan had wholeheartedly agreed.
There was little question that the U.S., in the light of the analyses of the Soviet shots, would once again start bursting its bombs in the atmosphere. But when? And with what scientific and military priorities? The President instructed those around the table to consider all the manifold problems involved and to come up with answers "as expeditiously as possible, while still taking the time necessary for mature thought.''