Histories of the dissemination of scientific and military information during the “first nuclear age” have long emphasized those elements of information which could be used to develop a functional weapon. Comparatively overlooked, however, have been the ways in which those who create, classify, or control such information have used this power to shape perceptions of atomic energy’s relationship to the domestic and international landscape. This oversight prompts a wide range of questions: How does control over “restricted data” shape public institutions’ political incentives? How does the dissemination of nuclear intelligence shape international norms and adherence to arms control treaties? What effect does nuclear powers’ physical control over nuclear test sites have upon foreign delegates’ observations of such tests? And how have those working in the nuclear enterprise modified their views when presented with new information?

In this panel, four historians consider how the transfer of nuclear knowledge from, between, and within nuclear weapons states and their agents shaped the Cold War era. Opening this panel, Dr. Nicholas Lewis examines how the Atomic Energy Commission exploited security controls over nuclear information to advance its political agenda during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Madeline Whitacre subsequently demonstrates how the United States used the Vela Hotel program’s space-based nuclear event monitoring to generate information it could use as a diplomatic tool to disincentivize nuclear weapons testing. Employing concepts of spatial history, Dr. John William Sutcliffe IV explores how notions of space and place influenced foreign representatives’ observations of U.S. nuclear weapons testing during the latter half of the 1950s. Finally, Alexandra Levy employs oral histories of nuclear physicists to illuminate how they shared nuclear knowledge across national and international scientific communities, as well as how such exchanges shaped their views of nuclear weapons and warfare. Dr. Vincent Intondi concludes this panel by drawing together common threads among these four presentations, as well as historical lessons for a world at the threshold of the third nuclear age.