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Waiting: 30 Weapons. That security and that future have been shaken by the Russian test series. Although the U.S. still leads in the quality, sophistication and number of its nuclear arsenal, few in Washington doubt that the lead has been badly cut during the three-year moratorium and by the current Soviet tests. Most military experts and scientists believe that the Russians could not have resumed testing at such a brisk pace without preparing for the tests for at least a year, and some suspect that they have been setting off underground explosions all along. While the U.S. was penalized by its adherence to the moratorium, the Russians planned, prepared for, and executed the most intensive and impressive test series in the world's history.
Because of more advanced techniques, the U.S. atmospheric tests will produce a mere fraction of the fallout that has accompanied the Russian shots. The U.S. does not intend to resume atmospheric testing for the mere hellishness of it. But there are plenty of practical reasons why the U.S. does need to resume tests. In its labs, the U.S. has developed some 30 weapons with nuclear capability since the moratorium went into effect in 1958—and scientists are anxious to test them fully. The military would like to improve the weight-yield ratio of its weapons and try to come closer to a completely "clean" bomb. High-altitude testing could produce information about how to defend against incoming H-bomb missiles. Scientists, in need of advanced tests on weapon structure, may explore the effects of setting off more than one bomb simultaneously to see what happens when the two blast waves collide.
Most of these require atmospheric testing—and even though the decision has essentially been made by President Kennedy, there remain considerable problems. Starting almost from scratch because of its three years of inactivity, the U.S. has yet to prepare sites both above and below ground, get devices ready for testing, set up schedules, and move personnel to potential test sites. Estimates are that the U.S. will not be able to perform any meaningful atmospheric testing until midsummer. In fact, the U.S. does not even have a good test site for atmospheric testing, is scouring the Pacific to find one. The U.S. is, among other things, reluctant to resume testing at the Eniwetok Atoll because of the political furor that it feels would be caused among Africans and Asians by south-blown fallout.
Changed Emphasis. The huge and vital job of preparing the U.S. to resume testing falls heavily upon the AEC and Chairman Seaborg. Though Seaborg is a civilian who would rather concentrate on the peaceful uses of the atom, the responsibility of preparing the U.S. for possible nuclear war can never be out of his mind. Seaborg's AEC was established in 1946. when Congress decided to take control of atomic power away from the War Department. The AEC was set up as an independent agency of civilians charged with guiding a national program to convert atomic energy for peaceful uses and, at the same time, ensuring that such energy could be used if necessary to defend the U.S. from any nuclear aggressor.