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Stop updating academic journals, exposing the secrets of the
Date锛�2025-03-22 16:38Editer锛歛dminRead锛�锛�
In 1942, the United States quietly launched the Manhattan Project and began developing the atomic bomb. As a top secret military research project, the security and confidentiality of the Manhattan Project are of utmost importance to the entire project. However, despite the US military and intelligence agencies being vigilant about the relevant information, this plan was still discovered by the Soviet Union.
The "loophole" that made Soviet scientists aware was both unexpected and very reasonable - the suspension of nuclear research in Western academic journals. Through this incident, Soviet scientists became acutely aware of the progress made in American nuclear weapons research. Through a series of covert actions, the Soviet Union obtained more information about the Manhattan Project and developed its own atomic bomb, breaking the United States' nuclear monopoly.
Confidential personnel are strictly managed
According to the Office of History and Heritage Resources of the US Department of Energy, in 1942, when President Franklin Roosevelt handed over the Manhattan Project to the US Army, he issued instructions for "absolute confidentiality". In June 1943, Roosevelt wrote a letter to Oppenheimer, who later became known as the "father of the atomic bomb" in the United States, emphasizing once again that this project was "of great national significance" and the corresponding confidentiality measures should be "stricter than any other highly classified military research and development project". He also specifically mentioned that participants in the project will be subject to "very special restrictions".
According to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in the United States, the institutions implementing the Manhattan Project are relatively remote, with three operational centers located in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Hanford, Washington, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which are far enough away from nearby major cities. To ensure that there are no idle personnel in the operation center, high wire fences are set up around all three operation centers, and checkpoints are set up inside and outside the facilities to strictly check entry and exit.
Researchers and staff involved in the Manhattan Project will undergo extremely strict background checks, and FBI agents will contact their immediate family members or former employers for screening.
After joining, staff will be strictly assigned classified permissions based on their respective job levels, such as construction, smelting workers, and low-level technical personnel holding red and blue badges. The activity area and classified scope are very limited, and some migrant workers even have no concept of what happened to the Manhattan Project. The physicists and engineers in the operations center hold white badges and have high-level classified permissions. They have the opportunity to discuss project progress with Oppenheimer on weekdays. Regardless of their rank or authority, those involved in the Manhattan Project are required to sign confidentiality agreements and receive "confidentiality education". In daily work, special attention should be paid to written and oral communication methods to avoid inadvertently leaking state secrets during casual conversations or sending letters.
The personal freedom of those who participated in the Manhattan Project was strictly restricted. A resident who used to live in Los Alamos said, "Every time I go to Santa Fe (a big city near Los Alamos), I feel like I'm being watched, someone is hiding in the shadows, waiting for me to make a mistake. It's so uncomfortable
In addition, all letters sent and received by the operation center must be opened and inspected, and it is said that "everyone was dissatisfied" at that time. A physicist who likes to play word puzzles with his wife in letters was immediately interrogated by security personnel and ordered to prohibit the use of "encrypted" writing methods.
Related academic journals will no longer be updated
At that time, the US military and intelligence agencies were "strictly guarding" the Manhattan Project, on the one hand to prevent espionage activities by the Axis powers, and on the other hand to prevent the wartime alliance with the Soviet Union.
During World War II, Nazi Germany had its own atomic bomb development project and attempted to build a massive spy network on American soil. However, most German spies were quickly exposed and arrested by the United States, and no one uncovered the mystery of this project. Although the German physics community vaguely felt that the United States or Britain were doing something "big", it was only in the guessing stage. Japan has also caught some wind and grass movements, but has not been able to obtain exact information.
But all of this did not escape the eyes of the Soviet people. When the United States quietly launched the Manhattan Project, young Soviet physicist Georgy Fyodorov keenly sensed the movement in academia: Western academic journals no longer updated their papers on nuclear fission, and related research should have become a confidential project.
In April 1942, Fyodorov wrote a letter directly to the then Supreme Leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin, stating, 'We must develop the' uranium bomb 'as soon as possible.'. In the letter, he wrote, "I believe we are making a big mistake... Our sole focus is on defeating the Nazis, but achieving military goals may not be the most urgent issue... The advancement of developing atomic bombs is above all else, and it is not important who should take responsibility for the Soviet Union's neglect of this work
Spy infiltrated and leaked intelligence
Some people say that Stalin took action because he received a warning letter from Fyodorov, while others say that Stalin did not even see Fyodorov's letter. However, in any case, after Fyodorov sent the letter, the relevant departments of the Soviet Union collected intelligence on the Western development of nuclear bombs, and Stalin also took action. In 1943, under the leadership of Kurchatov, later known as the "father of the Soviet atomic bomb", the Soviet Union launched its own atomic bomb development project.
At the same time, Soviet intelligence agencies launched a massive espionage network in the United States and the United Kingdom, and launched a nuclear program infiltration activity codenamed "Giant". Some high-level spies themselves are physicists, and they successfully penetrated the core of the US atomic bomb project as researchers. Klaus Fuchs, a British German physicist, was one of the most successful spies for the Soviet Union. In 1943, he joined the Manhattan Project with a team of British scientists and participated in the development and design of the atomic bomb. He quickly sent the intelligence to Soviet agents.
With the support of a powerful intelligence network, the Soviet Union's atomic bomb development program advanced rapidly and successfully tested on August 29, 1949, breaking the United States' "nuclear monopoly".
According to historical records, there was a small incident during the Potsdam Conference in 1945. At that time, the United States had just completed a nuclear test codenamed "Trinity" in New Mexico. President Truman believed that the Soviet Union knew nothing about the atomic bomb and proudly boasted to Stalin that they had mastered a "highly destructive new weapon". Stalin did not give Truman the reaction he wanted. He remained calm, without any surprise or doubt, as if he had a clear understanding of the situation.
The American history blog website "History Reader" joked that at that time Stalin "not only knew about the atomic bomb, but even made atomic bombs," while Truman had only been in office for a few months and had only been exposed to the top secret project of the Manhattan Project.