Nexus - 0402 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Soviet Union in 1936-39, and author of a book and movie of fla- be in operation for another year. grant propaganda, Mission to Moscow. In an interview with the Six days earlier the War Production Board had issued General Times-Herald of Washington for February 18, 1946, he was quot- Reference Order M-285, controlling the distribution of uranium ed as saying, "Russia, in self-defense, has every moral right to compounds among domestic industries like glass, pottery and seek atomic bomb secrets through military espionage if excluded ceramics. A loophole was left by overlooking the export of such from such information by her former fighting allies!" There also materials for war purposes. The Russians claimed that they had was Professor Harold C. Urey, American scientist, who sat in the urgent military need for uranium nitrate in medicinal research, innermost circle of the Manhattan Project. Yet on December 14, and for uranium oxide and metal as alloys in hardening gun-barrel 1949, in a report of the Atlantic Union Committee, Dr Urey said steel. There was nothing for the US to do but grant an OK, since that Major Jordan should be court-martialed if he had removed we did not want to imply that we were suspicious of Russia's anything from planes bound for Russia. request. When American supplies were cut off, the device of out- Uranium metal was unavailable. On March 23, at Rosenberg's maneuvering General Groves was to procure the materials clan- instance, the S. W. Shattuck Chemical Co. of Denver shipped four destinely from Canada. Not until 1946 did the commander of the crates, weighing 691 pounds, to Colonel Kotikov at Great Falls. Manhattan Project learn from the Un-American Activities The Burlington Railroad's bill of lading described the contents Committee that his stockade had been undermined. merely as "Chemicals", but it was accompanied by a letter from My share in the revelation was testimony under oath, leading to Rosenberg to Kotikov designating the contents as 220 pounds of one conclusion only: that the Canadian bypass was aided by Mr uranium nitrate and 200 (not 220) pounds of uranium oxide. Hopkins. At his direction, Lend-Lease issued a certificate of Since it was a Lend-Lease transaction, defrayed with American release without which the consignment could not have moved. funds, no export license was required. The cargo was dispatched Lend-Lease channels of transportation and Lend-Lease personnel, without friction along the Pipeline. such as myself, were used. Traces But the War Production Board, of the scheme were kept off Lend- from which clearance had been Lease books by making it a 'cash' sought, alerted the Manhattan transaction. The shipment was paid The Russians claimed that they had Project. It was too late to halt the for with a check of the Amtorg urgent military need for uranium Shattuck sale. General Groves Trading Corporation. reluctantly approved it on the Because of the initial branch of nitrate in medicinal research, and ground that it would be unwise to the airlift to Moscow was under for uranium oxide and metal as tip off Russia as to the importance American control, passage of the of uranium chemicals—a fact with chemicals across United States terri- alloys in hardening gun-barrel steel. which Moscow was only too tory could not be avoided, in Alaska . familiar. if not Montana. On account of that There was nothing for the US to do During the investigation, I was fact—the cash nature of the pro- but grant an OK... embarrassed by questions as to ject—it was necessary to obtain an why tables of exports to the Soviet export license from the Board of Union contained no mention of Economic Warfare. Such a docu- uranium. The Shattuck consign- ment, covering a shipment of American ment was legitimate. It had been origin, was first prepared. It was altered, to comply with the authorized by Lend-Lease, the War Production Board and the Canadian maneuver, by some BEW official whose identity has Manhattan Project. been concealed by the State Department. As amended, the license Some months later I ran into John F. Moynihan, formerly of the was issued on April 29, 1943. Its serial number was C-1643180. Newark News editorial staff. A Second Lieutenant at the Newark But two facts were forgotten: (a) public carriers use invoices, Airport when I was there, he had risen to Colonel as a sort of and (b) the Air Forces kept tallies not only at Great Falls but ‘reverse press-agent' for General Groves. His duty was not to fos- Fairbanks. ter publicity but prevent it. By diligent searching, freight and airway bills yielded incon- "I heard you floundering about," he said, "and wished I could testable proof that 15 boxes of uranium chemicals were delivered tell you something you didn't know. I was sent to Denver to hush at Great Falls on June 9, 1943, and were dispatched immediately, up the records in the Shattuck matter. It was hidden under the in a Lend-Lease plane, to the Soviet Union. phrase, 'salts and compounds’, in an entry covering a different The shipment originated at Eldorado Mining & Refining, Ltd, metal." of Great Bear Lake, and was sent through Port Hope, Ontario. It General Groves moved rapidly to stop the leak through which was authorized by a Canadian arms export permit, No. OF1666. the Shattuck boxes had slipped. By early April he had formed a The carrier was the Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul & Pacific nationwide embargo by means of voluntary contracts with chemi- Railway. Listed as consignee was Colonel A. N. Kotikov, resi- cal brokers. They promised to grant the United States first right dent agent of the Soviet Government Purchasing Commission at to purchase all uranium oxide, uranium nitrate and sodium uranate Gore Field, Great Falls. received by the contractors. The story behind the story is as follows. On February 1, 1943, The uranium black-out was discovered by Rosenberg when he Hermann H. Rosenberg of Chematar, Inc., New York City, tried to fill another order from the Soviet Purchasing Commission, received the first inquiry about uranium ever to reach his office. for 500 pounds each of uranium nitrate and uranium oxide. On The applicant was the Soviet Purchasing Commission, which April 23, 1943, Rosenberg was in touch with the Canadian desired 220 pounds of uranium oxide, 220 pounds of uranium Radium & Uranium Corp. of New York, which was exclusive nitrate, and 25 pounds of uranium metal. sales agent for Eldorado Mining & Refining, Ltd, a producer of At that date Oak Ridge was under construction, but would not uranium at Great Bear Lake. be in operation for another year. Six days earlier the War Production Board had issued General Reference Order M-285, controlling the distribution of uranium compounds among domestic industries like glass, pottery and ceramics. A loophole was left by overlooking the export of such materials for war purposes. The Russians claimed that they had urgent military need for uranium nitrate in medicinal research, and for uranium oxide and metal as alloys in hardening gun-barrel steel. There was nothing for the US to do but grant an OK, since we did not want to imply that we were suspicious of Russia's at NEXUS - 27 FEBRUARY - MARCH 1997