# Dodson 1979: South Atlantic Nuclear Event (memorandum with untitled discussion paper)

> Christine (Staff Secretary, National Security Council) Dodson, 1979. 6 records on Mysteries Department cite it. The government's initial technical…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CW4WH9C1ECW/south-atlantic-nuclear-event-memorandum-with-untitled  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[1979 Vela incident](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/vela-incident)Dodson 1979

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# South Atlantic Nuclear Event (memorandum with untitled discussion paper)

Christine (Staff Secretary, National Security Council) Dodson, 1979. _National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book 190, Document 1_.

NSC memorandum of 22 October 1979 to the Secretary of State and others with a discussion paper stating the Intelligence Community's "high confidence" that a low-yield atmospheric nuclear explosion occurred on 22 September 1979.

**1979 Vela incident** ReportCopy of **[NSC memorandum of 22 October 1979 with the discussion paper on the South Atlantic event](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/vela-incident/artifacts/ART0CW4XEB20ZJQ/nsc-memorandum-of-22-october-1979-with-the-discussion-paper)** Checked against the original0

## What it's used for here

The government's initial technical judgement.

## The document 12 pages

[Pages]Page 1 of 12

[![Page 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p1)1][![Page 2](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p2)2][![Page 3](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p3)3][![Page 4](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p4)4][![Page 5](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p5)5][![Page 6](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p6)6][![Page 7](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p7)7][![Page 8](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p8)8][![Page 9](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p9)9][![Page 10](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p10)10][![Page 11](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p11)11][![Page 12](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p12)12]

![Page 1 of South Atlantic Nuclear Event (memorandum with untitled discussion paper)](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb/p1)

Pages from the file we keep.

## Cited by on this site 6 records

[A low-yield atmospheric nuclear test of a few kilotons, near the ocean surface.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/vela-incident/answers/ANS0CW4WYYW57H0/a-low-yield-atmospheric-nuclear-test-of-a-few-kilotons-near)

Answer

ANS

[NSC memorandum of 22 October 1979 with the discussion paper on the South Atlantic event](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/vela-incident/artifacts/ART0CW4XEB20ZJQ/nsc-memorandum-of-22-october-1979-with-the-discussion-paper)

ART

[NSC memorandum of 22 October 1979 with the discussion paper on the South Atlantic event: scan](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/vela-incident/copies/CPY0CW4XEJW70QW/nsc-memorandum-of-22-october-1979-with-the-discussion-paper)

CPY

[The NSC recorded the Intelligence Community's high confidence in a low-yield explosion on 22 October 1979.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/vela-incident/evidence/EVD0CW4X05Y3KBE/the-nsc-recorded-the-intelligence-communitys-high-confidence)

Evidence

EVD

[NSC memorandum reports high confidence in a low-yield atmospheric explosion](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/vela-incident/events/EVT0CW4WTJ868CW/nsc-memorandum-reports-high-confidence-in-a-low-yield)

EVT

[The 1979 Vela incident](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/vela-incident)

The mystery article

MYS

## Cite it

```
Dodson, C. (. S. N. S. C. (1979). South Atlantic Nuclear Event (memorandum with untitled discussion paper). National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book 190, Document 1. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/01.pdf
```

[Read it free at nsarchive2.gwu.edu](https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/01.pdf)[Download PDF · 1009 KB](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/d/51be4696376cf1e13ecd739b654e2da6f8c4284f809237c4eee8f955a9f9aceb)

Anyone can read it here; members can download it.

Key

**SRC** 0CW4WH9C1ECW

Kind

Report

Rights

public-domain

Kept

26 Oct 2026

Checked

Against the published original

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS.

[CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CW4WH9C1ECW/south-atlantic-nuclear-event-memorandum-with-untitled/csl.json)