Test Readiness Program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:50, 24 December 2007

Revision as of 08:03, 3 February 2008

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The '''Test Readiness Program''' was a [[United States]] Government program established in [[1963]] to maintain the necessary techonologiestechnologies and infrastructure for the [[Nuclear testing|atmospheric testing]] of [[nuclear weapons]], should the treaty which prohibited such testing be abrogated.

==History of the program==

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Following the resumption of Soviet testing, President [[John F. Kennedy]] said, "The Soviet Union prepared to test while we were at the table negotiating with them. If they fooled us once, it is their fault, and if they fool us twice, it is our fault."<ref name="sandia1"/>

Once the [[Partial Test Ban Treaty|Limited Test Ban Treaty]] (LTBT) went into effect in October, 1963, there was concern within the government that it would be abrogated by the Soviets, who would then have a head-start in the resumption of weapons testing. Not wanting to be caught off-guard, the Test Readiness program was initiated, so that if the treaty was nullified, or if some other national security concern warranted the resumption of testing, the scientific infrastructure would be implacein place so that testing could begin almost immediately. Congressional ratification of the treaty was tied to a mandate to the U.S. [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] to develop a program to maintain American readiness to resume testing if necessary.<ref name="sandia1"/>

==The program==

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==Program ends==

By 1974, the world politics had significantly changed, and it was clear that the treaty, now over a decade old, would hold and there was little possibility of atomosphericatmospheric testing would resume. Funding for the program was cut severely. The Air Force support dropped, and President [[Gerald Ford]] dropped the word "promptly" from the executive mandate. Thus, the Test Readiness Program came to an end in 1975.<ref name="sandia1"/>

==References==