The_Info_Web/10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Donald M. Kerr, Jr..md

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---
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
tags:
- Person
- Nuclear
- Israel
summary: "Acting director of defense programs at the Department of Energy who directed the Nuclear Intelligence Panel study of the 1979 Vela satellite flash, concluding it was a nuclear bomb."
---
Donald M. Kerr, Jr. served in the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration as acting director of the defense programs at the [[Department of Energy]], making him responsible for [[America]]'s nuclear bombs. He directed the secret Nuclear Intelligence Panel (NIP) study into the 1979 [[VELA Satellite]] sighting. Kerr stated that the NIP had no doubt it was a nuclear bomb and believed the [[Jack P. Ruina|Ruina]] panel's mandate was driven by politics "to find a different explanation."[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.