The_Info_Web/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Frank Press.md

tags
Person Scientist Government Official USA

Frank Press was the presidential science adviser during the Jimmy 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

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