27 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
27 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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category: "Scientists & Researchers"
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tags:
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- Person
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- Nuclear
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- Israel
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summary: "Nuclear Intelligence Panel member who concluded the 1979 Vela satellite event was a South African-Israeli nuclear test and accused the White House of suppressing the finding."
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born: 1918-09-09
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died: 1991-09-15
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location: "United States"
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updated: 2026-10-09
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relations:
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- type: investigated
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with: "[[VELA Satellite]]"
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start: 1980-02-11
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end: 1980-02-14
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role: "chairman of the Nuclear Intelligence Panel review of the September 22, 1979 event, per the February 14, 1980 memorandum"
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fn: 2
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---
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Louis H. Roddis, Jr. played a major role in [[America]]'s postwar nuclear weapons development. He was a member of the [[Nuclear Intelligence Panel]] (NIP). Roddis concluded that the 1979 [[South Africa]]n-Israeli nuclear test had taken place on a barge or on one of the islands of an archipelago between the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans. He expressed anger at [[Frank Press]] and the [[White House]] for what he saw as a deliberate effort to downplay and manipulate the facts surrounding the event.[^1]
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A February 14, 1980 memorandum from the chairman of the Joint Atomic Energy Intelligence Committee to the Director of Central Intelligence, [[Stansfield Turner]], names Roddis as chairman of the Nuclear Intelligence Panel for its meeting of February 11 to 13, 1980 on the September 22, 1979 [[VELA Satellite|Vela]] event; it states that the attached summary of the panel's views "was prepared by the Panel Chairman, Mr. Louis H. Roddis, Jr." and the attached judgments are completely redacted.[^2]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
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[^2]: Joint Atomic Energy Intelligence Committee, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Judgments of the DCI's Nuclear Intelligence Panel on the 22 September 1979 Event," February 14, 1980, Secret. Document 6 in NSAEBB 190, with the attached judgments completely redacted. The memorandum names Roddis as panel chairman and gives the meeting dates as February 11-13; Richelson's narrative in the same briefing book names Kerr as chairman. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/06.pdf
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