Breakdown : How the Secret of the Atomic Bomb Was Stolen [Paperback]

Richard Melzer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1999

The enormous effort called the Manhattan Project that produced the world's first atomic bomb was supposed to be the best kept secret of World War II. And the Project's Los Alamos, New Mexico site where the bomb was perfected was supposed to have the tightest security of the project's other 37 installations across the United States. Even the vice president, Harry S. Truman, was kept in the dark initially until fate propelled him into the fray. But this was 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 secret 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. Using interviews, memoirs, and formerly confidential files Melzer shows that spies quite 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 in the past might well help those in charge of security today as the United States grapples with these problems in the aftermath of the Chinese espionage scandal that rocked Los Alamos and the American intelligence.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

RICHARD MELZER is a professor of History at the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus. A specialist in twentieth century New Mexico history, he has written many articles, chapters, and books about the American Southwest. He is a prize-winning author and a popular public speaker. Sunstone Press is also the publisher of Melzer's focused biography, Ernie Pyle in the American Southwest, as well as When We Were Young in the West. His latest book is Buried Treasures: Famous and Unusual Gravesites in New Mexico History, also from Sunstone Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Sunstone Press; 1st edition (December 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865343047
• ISBN-13: 978-0865343047
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,189,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Same - Old - Security - Los Almos National Laboratory, July 24, 2000

By 

E. E Pofahl (HUNTINGTON, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Breakdown : How the Secret of the Atomic Bomb Was Stolen (Paperback)

If you have followed the security problems at the Los Alamos National Laboratories in the year 2000, this should be required reading. In less than 100 pages of text, Richard Melzer outlines the World War II history of security at this critical atomic bomb lab.

Chapter 1 outlines the WW II security at the lab. Some security requirements/efforts were almost laughable. The chapter ends noting that the lab "was considered the most guarded, most sensitive secretive military or civilian installation in the United States during World War II". The author notes that "in theory" the secret of the atomic bomb was as safe as humanly possible so that not even the vice president of the United States knew about the project. The tight security requirements caused severe problems with the scientists and technicians who resented the restrictions on their academic freedom, right of association and travel.

Chapter 2 tells how, in practice, security was compromised when confronted with reality. The chapter discusses three major security breakdowns: #1 Security Clearances, #2 Information Access and #3 Relaxed Travel Restrictions. Melzer ends the chapter with the statement that "As any burglar knows, the keys to a successful theft, be it of real property or of ideas, are entry, access and exit. It was only a matter of time before eager spies exploited these flaws and carried out the greatest theft of the twentieth century, the secret to the atomic bomb."

Chapter 3 gives proof of security comprises outlining the cases of three Soviet Spies; #1: Klaus Fuchs, #2: Theodore Hall and #3: David Greenglass. Stating that there was enough blame to go around for the security lapse , the author places the blame at the top on the project managers, Oppenheimer and General Groves. However, Melzer further states that Groves and Oppenheimer probably could not have kept "the lid on" and still completed the construction and testing of the bomb by July 1945. Completing the atomic bomb by July 1945 may have saved thousands of American military casualties plus countless Japanese military and civilian lives.

A History Channel (? ) TV program on the Soviet atomic development program stated that the Soviets had a viable atomic program. The program made the intriguing statement that the spy information from the Manhattan Project, while helpful, only advanced the Soviet program no more than 2 years. In other words, the Soviets probably would have had the atomic bomb in 1951 or 1952 anyway and the Cold War only would have started 2 years later than it did in 1949.

Richard Melzer concludes the book stating that Oppenheimer and Groves "did the best they could under increasingly difficult circumstances." He ends with the Colonel Landale's post-war conclusion that "Los Alamos and its great wartime secret was, in reality, `not so secure after all." Recent news reports indicate that the difficulties of managing classified research and the attendant security conflicts at Los Alamos still exist.

This book gives interesting insight into the problems of managing advanced classified research conducted by brilliant scientists.

4.0 out of 5 stars Security at Los Alamos, October 10, 2011

By 

Gary_Cozzens - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breakdown : How the Secret of the Atomic Bomb Was Stolen (Paperback)

Though short in length, this books serves its purpose in giving an overview of the security of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos during World War II. In doing so, Melzer closes the gap of information that is readily available to the public on the building of the atomic bomb. What is ironic is this book was written 50 years after the event and still there was little information available on the subject. As with Melzer's continuing work, he collected first hand information from a variety of sources and consolidated them into this book.

The building of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos conjures up images of spies standing on street corners in trench coats seeking informants on what was happening on the hill top. That surely happened, but as this book points out, there was a much greater security effort associated with the building of the first atomic bombs. There is a description of the screen process and the fact that scientists associated with England were allowed into the project based on statement from that government which in hindsight was a huge mistake. There was the issue of Robert J. Oppenheimer's own issues with security due to his background. Foreign scientist stood up against total compartmentalization of information rightfully pointing out that they needed to share ideas and experiments in order to be successful. Finally there were the pranksters who revolted against the cloak of secrecy.

As Melzer points out, there were at least three known spies who reported information to foreign governments. Yet, in the conclusion of the book I think is the key to the security at the site. Groves and Oppenheimer did the best they did with the resources they had. This book provides a much needed aspect of the building of the atomic bomb during World War II. perhaps someday all of these pieces can be put together and we will have a complete picture of that process. Until them we are indebted to people like Richard Melzer for digging out those hidden pieces and shedding the light on them.

3.0 out of 5 stars Partly effective, partly ineffective history of atomic bomb security during World War II, August 5, 2010

By 

E. Jaksetic (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Breakdown : How the Secret of the Atomic Bomb Was Stolen (Paperback)

This short book (83 pages of text, 15 pages of photographs, and 47 pages of chronology, references, and bibliography) is written in a style that is easy to read and understand. But, it has a mixed, uneven quality in its substance.

Not including the brief Preface (4 pages), the first section of the book (66 pages) does a good job of describing security at the Los Alamos facility of the Manhattan Project. The description of Los Alamos security covers: (1) how background investigations were conducted on personnel assigned there; (2) what security procedures and mechanisms were implemented at Los Alamos; (3) how personnel assigned to Los Alamos reacted to security measures; and (4) the trials and tribulations of military personnel responsible for implementing and maintaining security at Los Alamos. The author includes amusing anecdotes and interesting examples of how security was implemented and how security was undermined or circumvented (sometimes inadvertently, sometimes deliberately). The first section of the book provides a useful case study that could be educational and informative for security officers, security guards, or anyone responsible for establishing or implementing security measures for an organization.

The second section of the book (13 pages) gives a too short and unsatisfying description of three individuals who worked at the Los Alamos facility and provided atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union. There are other books that give more extensive and more thorough descriptions of those three (and other) individuals working on the Manhattan Project who provided atomic bomb secrets to the Soviets. Such books include: Joseph Albright and Marcia Kunstel, Bombshell : The Secret Story of America's Unknown Atomic Spy Conspiracy (Times Books, 1997); Allen Weinstein & Alexander Vassiliev, The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America--The Stalin Era (Modern Library Paperbacks) (Modern Library, 2000); and John E. Haynes, Harvey Klehr, and Alexander Vassiliev, Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (Yale University Press, 2009).