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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Gerald G. Oplinger.md

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+category: "Intelligence & Government"
 tags:
   - Person
-  - Government Official
-  - USA
+  - CIA
+  - DIA
+  - Israel
+summary: "Aide to National Security Advisor Brzezinski present at the White House situation room meeting responding to the 1979 Vela satellite nuclear test detection."
 ---
+
 Gerald G. Oplinger was an aide to [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]] for global issues. He had retired from the Foreign Service and worked at the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission|NRC]] before joining Brzezinski's staff. Oplinger was summoned back to an urgent meeting in the White House situation room after a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded two distinctive bright flashes of light over the South Indian Ocean on September 22, 1979, probable evidence of a nuclear explosion. He recalled that [[Zbigniew Brzezinski|Brzezinski]] was present at the meeting, where the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] stated that the odds were at least ninety percent that it had been a nuclear explosion. Oplinger personally had no doubt that it was a nuclear event.[^1]
 
 ### Footnotes