NOMINATION OF HERBERT SCOVILLE, JR. FOR THE ENRICO FERMI AWARD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00313R000100120005-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 21, 2002
• Sequence Number: 5
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Release 2002/11/15 : CIA-RDP84-00313R000100120005-3
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT . Nomination of Herbert Scoville, Jr. for the
Enrico Fermi Award
1. This memorandum transmits for your signature a letter
nominating Herbert Scoville, Jr. for the Enrico Fermi Award.
2. The letter from Mr. Manson Benedict, Chairman of the
General Advisory Committee to the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission,
inviting you to nominate a candidate and a memorandum from Dr.
Wheelon suggesting that you consider the nomination of Dr. Scoville
for the Enrico Fermi Award are attached.
3. Nominations for the next Award must be submitted to
Mr. Benedict not later than 1 March 1963.
Attachments: A/S
Director of Security
Distribution:
Orig. & 1 - Addressee
Emmett D. Echols
Director of Personnel
1 - ER watt
1 - DDCI watt
1 - DD/I watt
1 - DDS watt
1 - D/Sec watt
2 - D/Pers (1 watt)
Approved For ReLbas gffM11/15 : CIA-RDP84-00313R000100120005-3 STATINTL
 Approved For Release 2002/11/15 : CIA-RDP84-00313R000100120005-3
Mr. Manson Benedict, Chairman
General Advisory Committee
U. S. Atomic Energy Commission
P. 0. Box 3528
Washington 7, D. C.
I am pleased to nominate Dr. Herbert Scoville, Jr., of the
Central Intelligence Agency as a candidate for the next Enrico
Fermi Award.
Dr. Scoville has made major contributions in the development
of scientific and technical intelligence which have been of great
significance in the formulation of national policy on the control
of atomic energy.
I should be happy to review with the members of the Committee
or the Commission details concerning particular achievements of
Dr. Scoville which have not been amplified in the attached nomination
paper because of security considerations.
Sincerely,
John A. McCone
Director
Approved For Release 2002/11/15 : CIA-RDP84-00313R000100120005-3
 Approved For Release 2002/11/15 : CIA-RDP84-00313R000100120005-3
BCOVILLF, JR.
The exceptional and highly meritorious contribution
of Dr. Scoville to the use and control of atomic energy is
best presented in the form of a resume of his responsibilities
and activities in his two major federal assignments.
Dr. Scoville served as Technical Director of the Armed
Forces Special Weapons Project (successor to the Manhattan
Engineering District and now the Defense Atomic Support
Agency) from June 1948 to August 1955. He was scientific
advisor to the Chief, AFS*P, on all technical matters
relating to the development, use, effects and defense against
atomic weapons; and planned and directed research and develop-
ment programs in atomic weapons fields. (Concurrently he
served as a member of the Chemical Corps Advisory Council,
the Committee on Nuclear Science of the Department of the
Air Force, and the Advisory Committee on Civil Defense of
the National Research Council.)
In nominating Dr. Scoville for the Arthur S. Flemming
Award in December 1950, Major General K. D. Nichols, Chief,
A?SWP, cited Dr. Scoville's wide technical experience and his
advice "on many highly classified aspects of the military
atomic program which includes radiological warfare" and
"in connection with the development of atomic weapons,
including bombs of all tys, and other methods of employ-
ing atomic energy as a weapon". He further pointed out
that radiological warfare was a new and exceptionally
technical subject of relatively unknown potentialities
and that "the evaluation of the military worth of this
weapon has,largely through the assistance of Dr. Scoville,
been conducted on a sound technical basis, combined with
logic and practicality". He also cited Dr. Scoville'ss
"full appreciation of military thinking and his clear
perception of the military, as well as the scientific pro-
blems" and that he had "accomplished a great deal to bring
these problems and thoughts of the military and scientific
to a common ground of understanding and this, in itself, is
one of the finest of his accomplishments" . Also in that year
the Director of Civilian personnel informed the Assistant
Secretary of the Army that Dr. Scoville had attained "a
position of pre-eminence in the military services on matters
Approved For Release 2002/11/15 : CIA-RDP84-00313R000100120005-3
 Approved For Release 2002/11/15 :
CIA-RDP84-00313R000100120005-3
Herbert Scoville, Jr.
2
of radiological defense and is the leading authority on
the analysis of radiation information which has been made
available to the armed services as the result of the atomic
tests at Operations CROSSlOADS and SANDSTONE".
In June 1952, Rear Admiral W. X. Mendenhall, Deputy
Chief t APSWP, in commends g Dr. Scoville as "the scientist
directly responsible for the accomplishment of the weapons
effects programs" stated that "the successful accomplish-
ment of the several programs involving many fields of science
was in a large degree dependent upon your clear insight
into the problems, your ability to coordinate the activities
of many laboratories, your scientific guidance to the groups
and your own hard work". In October 1952 the Department of
the Army conferred on Dr. Scoville its Commendation of
Meritorious Service for his work in the nuclear weapons
field.
In August 1953, Major General A. R. Luedecke, Chief,
AP8WP, stated that Dr. Scoville "kept himself abreast of new
developments in the atomic energy field to a marked degree"
and "through his own efforts and his tremendous capacity for
absorbing knowledge, he is considered one of the outstanding
experts in the fields of atomic weapons development and
weapons effects .... and because of his guidance, advice, and
direction, the research programs of APSWP have been exception-
ally successful in providing useful data to increase the
Project's knowledge of effects of atomic weapons".
Major General P. W. Clarkson expressed his "sincere apprecia-
tion" for Dr. Scoville in hay 1954 for his contribution to
the success of Operation CASTLE during which in the forward
area as a consultant to Commander, Task Unit 13, he was
called upon "to organize and lead a team in making a radio-
logical survey of certain remote atolls". Later in 1954,
Dr. Scoville was detailed to the Office of Defense Mobilization
on the Technological Capabilities Panel in an "assignment
undertaken at the request of the President". In April 1955,
Arthur S. Flemming, Director of Defense Mobilization, wrote
Dr. Scoville: "The President has reeauested me to express
to you his own deep appreciation for the outstanding service
rendered over a period of the past few months under the
leadership of Dr. Killian .... All of us who have had the
opportunity of examining the results of your work feel that
you have made an outstanding contribution to the security
of our nation".
Approved For Release 2002/11/15 : CIA-RDP84-00313R000100120005-3
 Approved For Release 2002/11/15 : CIA-RDP84-00313R000100120005-3
Herbert Scoville, Jr. 3
With his specialized knowledge and experience in atomic
weapons he was able upon his appointment an Assistant
Director for Scientific Intelligence, CIA, to grasp quickly
the need for more substantive intelligence in depth on foreign
nuclear capabilities and potentialities. Though his Chair-
manship of the Joint Atomic Energy Intelligence Committee
and his excellent rapport with the scientific community, he
was able to marshall the resources of science and technology
with those of the intelligence community to obtain unprecedented
intelligence information while overcoming the tremendous
obstacles of foreign countermeasures. Because of the force-
fulness of his personality and drive, his professional standing
as a senior scientific intelligence officer, and his position
an a consultant to the President's science Advisory Committee,
he was able to open a channel to the top echelons of Govern-
ment. Here this new, solid scientific intelligence created
a greater awareness of the threat to the security of the
United States from foreign nuclear programs and had significant
influence on National security policies affecting both inter-
national position and defense programs.
When scientific intelligence moved into the new field
of arms limitation, Dr. Scoville was called upon to take a
leading role in development of the technical facts which are
critical to inspection and policing agreements. An a member
of the United States Delegation to the Geneva Conference of
Experts in 1958, he supported the front line negations con-
sidering the scientific and technical aspects of compliance
with a possible treaty on the discontinuance of nuclear tests.
Since the first Geneva session he has been called upon as the
most knowledgeable scientist in the Government an to the
capabilities of both the United States and foreign govern-
ments in the field of atomic energy to furnish essential
scientific and technological information upon which realistic
negotiations can be based.
In the fall of 1982 the President recognized his pre.
eminence by appointing him chairman of a committee to assess
the U. S. atomic weapons ossture as to stockpiles, yields,
state of the art and possible break-through vis-a-vis that
of other nations and to arrive at a net evaluation.
In recognition of Dr. Scoville's accomplishments on
the frontiers of scientific intelligence, he was pr rooted
in February 1962 to Deputy Director (Research).
Approved For Release 2002/11/15 : CIA-RDP84-00313R000100120005-3