Science, Secrecy, and the Smithsonian

"In the fall of 1962, at the height of the Cold War, officers representing the three main military services, the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, arrived at the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington. The officers were from the Desert Test Center, a new military installation in Fort Douglas, Utah. The chapter describes how these officers outlined a biological survey of various Pacific islands that they wanted to be undertaken. They were not forthcoming with their motives in wanting the survey, but Smithsonian officials volunteered to perform the survey using their own scientists and others to be hired as needed"--