---
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
tags:
  - Person
  - Nuclear
  - Israel
summary: "Frank Press was the presidential science adviser during the Carter administration."
born: 1924-12-04
died: 2020-01-29
location: "Brooklyn, New York, USA"
---
Frank Press was the presidential science adviser during the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration. He was a seismologist who had worked for years on classified nuclear detection issues and knew the [[VELA Satellite]] program well. After a VELA satellite recorded probable evidence of a nuclear explosion on September 22, 1979, Press suggested convening an unbiased outside study to determine if it was a test. He was concerned about the political implications if it leaked that the administration had concluded there had been a nuclear explosion.[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.