HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4

55th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2022

INTRODUCED BY

Christine Chandler

 

 

 

 

 

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY TO VACATE THE 1954 DECISION OF THE UNITED STATES ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION TO REVOKE THE SECURITY CLEARANCE OF DR. J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER.

 

     WHEREAS, during the throes of World War II, the project that became known to the world as the Manhattan project was established to design and build the first nuclear weapons, and Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer was chosen by Lieutenant General Leslie Groves as the civilian director of the project; and

     WHEREAS, General Groves, on the advice of Dr. Oppenheimer, selected a site on the remote Pajarito plateau of northern New Mexico to gather the scientists and technicians to work on the Manhattan project; and

     WHEREAS, on December 2, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson presented Dr. Oppenheimer with the Enrico Fermi award "on behalf of the atomic energy commission and the people of the United States"; and

     WHEREAS, the United States senate, on the one hundredth anniversary of his birth, recognized "the loyal service of J. Robert Oppenheimer to the United States and the outstanding contributions he made to theoretical physics, the Los Alamos national laboratory, the development of nuclear energy and the common defense and security of the United States"; and

     WHEREAS, multiple biographers of Dr. Oppenheimer, historians of the Manhattan project, noted academics, scientists who are members of the prestigious Los Alamos national laboratory fellows and several former directors of the Los Alamos national laboratory strongly endorse vacating the 1954 decision of the United States atomic energy commission to revoke Dr. Oppenheimer's security clearance; and

     WHEREAS, the legislature is aware that four United States senators recently requested the United States secretary of energy to vacate the United States atomic energy commission's 1954 decision; and

     WHEREAS, it is fitting for the legislature to endorse the restoration of status to a man who played an indispensable role in the success of the Manhattan project in defending national security; was instrumental in the eventual location of two national laboratories in New Mexico, thus bolstering the key role of the state in contributing to the nation's security; and was the victim of a miscarriage of justice;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the United States department of energy, through its secretary, be formally requested to vacate the United States atomic energy commission's 1954 decision to revoke the security clearance of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the United States secretary of energy and the New Mexico congressional delegation.

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