Breakdown : How the Secret of the Atomic Bomb Was Stolen

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Description

The enormous effort known as the Manhattan Project that produced the world’s first atomic bomb was once supposed to be the most efficient kept secret of World War II. And the Project’s Los Alamos, New Mexico site where the bomb was once perfected was once supposed to have the tightest security of the project’s other 37 installations across the USA. Even the vice president, Harry S. Truman, was once kept in the dead of night to start with until fate propelled him into the fray. But this was once an illusion. Evidence from Soviet and American sources have proven that at least three-and as many as six-Communist spies penetrated the security system at Los Alamos and shared the name of the game of the atomic bomb with the Stalin regime in the Soviet Union before the end of World War II. Historian Richard Melzer now sheds new light on how security at Los Alamos broke down, not by examining this isolated site in New Mexico from the outside as many other authors have, but from within Los Alamos itself. The use of interviews, memoirs, and formerly confidential files Melzer shows that spies rather easily obtained security clearances, gained access to top secret information, and carried this information to their Soviet contacts without a hitch. What Melzer tells us about the flaws of security previously might well help those in charge of security today as the USA grapples with these problems in the aftermath of the Chinese espionage scandal that rocked Los Alamos and the American intelligence.

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