Report Date: 11/1/1956
Document Number: FEC AGJ 370.2
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Description:
Standing Operating Procedure No. 1 for Atomic Operations was “promulgated for the purpose of establishing normal procedures which will ensure the most efficient and expeditious employment of atomic weapons in accordance with JCS policy…
The limited availability and great destructive power of atomic weapons require the establishment of procedures and controls which will insure their most expeditious and effective use in order to carry out the will of the Commander. Upon initiation of hostilities, on a scale warranting the use of atomic weapons, it is expected that Commander-in-Chief, Far East (CINCFE) will be authorized to employ atomic weapons, in the accomplishment of the theater mission…
This standing operating Procedure (SOP) established the procedure to be used in the Far East Command (FEC) for the control and expenditure of atomic weapons. The procedures set forth herein shall be adhered to by all commands concerned with the planning for and execution of atomic strikes…
CINFE is responsible that weapons allocated to him are employed effectively in the furtherance of the assigned theater missions. The CINCFE carries out this responsibility through the CINCFE Theater Joint Operations Center (TJOC) by acting on component commanders’ proposed atomic strike plans, by allocating weapons, and by delegating to component commanders authority to expend weapons in the accomplishment of their assigned mission, etc. When approval authority is retained by the CINCFE, authority to component commanders for delivery of weapons will be made by approval of component command strike plans in the daily atomic operations plan…”
This report was released to the Nautilus Institute under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).