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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Gerald G. Oplinger.md
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@ -18,9 +18,12 @@ Gerald G. Oplinger was an aide to [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]] for global issues. He
In a memorandum of January 23, 1980 to Owen, Oplinger wrote that he had told the State Department to put the press release and congressional consultations on hold, and that the [[Department of Energy]], the [[Department of Defense]] and technical people within the intelligence community had "sufficient doubts about the Press panel report to make it very dangerous to proceed without another look." He wrote that [[John Deutch]] and Dan Murphy felt strongly that unless the questions were given "a further airing, there will be continued internal dissent and an appearance that policy people (including the White House) did a whitewash for political reasons."[^4]
The "Press panel" that the memorandum criticizes was the review that the presidential science adviser, [[Frank Press]], had convened under [[Jack P. Ruina|Jack Ruina]]. The National Security Archive's briefing book on the Vela incident identifies it in those terms and describes the memorandum as Oplinger's report that the intelligence community was dissatisfied with the review's treatment of the Vela signals and of an ionospheric disturbance.[^5] The memorandum records the intelligence community's view on the Arecibo ionospheric signals in the words "DoE and DoD say no."[^5] The Press panel is the Vela review and is not the psychic research panel.
### Footnotes
[^1]: Richelson, Jeffrey T., ed., "The Vela Incident: Nuclear Test or Meteoroid?" National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 190, May 5, 2006, narrative. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/index.htm
[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
[^3]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, vol. XVI, Southern Africa, Document 361. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v16/d361
[^4]: Oplinger, Jerry, memorandum to Henry Owen, "South Atlantic Event," January 23, 1980, Secret. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, NLC-28-32-4-16-5; Document 33 in Burr, William, and Avner Cohen, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 570, December 6, 2016. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2016-12-06/vela-incident-south-atlantic-mystery-flash-september-1979-raised-questions-about-nuclear-test
[^5]: William Burr and Avner Cohen, "The Vela Incident," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 570, narrative and document 33 (Jerry Oplinger to Henry Owen, "South Atlantic Event," January 23, 1980, Secret, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, NLC-28-32-4-16-5).