Chuck Hansen (May 13, 1947 – March 26, 2003) was the compiler, over a period of 30 years, of the world's largest private collection of unclassified documents on how America developed atomic andthermonuclear weapons.
Hansen's documents were obtained through theU.S. Freedom of Information Act and since his death have been housed at theNational Security Archive atGeorge Washington University.[1][2]
In 1988, Hansen wrote the bookU.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History,[3] which, along with great detail about the process of developing, testing and administering atomic weapons was critical of theU.S. Defense Department, theAtomic Energy Commission, and some other government agencies. In the book Hansen reported that the early years ofnuclear testing were less successful than claimed; bombs failed, or yielded smaller or larger explosions than anticipated or announced, and attempts to develop a radioactivity-free bomb were unsuccessful.[1][2]U.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History is currently out of print, but it is available on compact disk through his publisher.
A second compilation of Hansen's material was published on compact disc asSwords of Armageddon in 1995. While Hansen'sU.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History was very instructive,Swords of Armageddon contains much more information and details about nuclear weapons developed by United States. It is in its second revision.[4]
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