Bud Uanna
Encyclopedia
William Lewis "Bud" Uanna (born in Medford, Massachusetts
on May 13, 1909) was a United States security expert. Uanna held many top security positions, and was a security officer on the Manhattan Project
and later Chief of the Division of Physical Security at the U.S. Department of State.
The son of Italian immigrants Anthony and Theresa (Ferullo), he attended Medford High School
where he was a star athlete. His athletic ability allowed him to attend Tufts College on athletic scholarships. Standing five feet five inches tall but powerfully built, he was halfback on the football team, an intercollegiate wrestling champion and ran on the track team. He is listed in Volume 32 1962-1963 of Who's Who in America and has been mentioned in magazines, newspapers and has been portrayed in three movies. Actor James Whitmore portrayed him in Above and Beyond
, Stephen Macht in Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb, and Minor Mustain in Hiroshima
.
employment opportunities for college graduates were almost non-existent. His intention had been to lecture in engineering but his first job was with a surveying
crew as a rodman. He soon progressed to chief of party. Before long he was a superintendent on heavy construction projects. In 1938 he was employed as a civilian by the US Army Corps of Engineers on the construction of Grenier Army Air Field in New Hamshire and Fort Devens
in Massachusetts where he would later serve as an Army Counter Intelligence agent during World War II. In 1940 he became a member of the International City Managers Association which is now known as the International City/County Management Association
.
(CIC). At this time he wrote a manual used by CIC Agents. 1000 copies were printed and issued for distribution by the Provost Marshal General. Only a Sargent at this time in 1942 he attended and graduated from Officer Candidate School as a 2nd Lt. in the Engineer Corps. Also in 1942 he would earn an LL.B. from Suffolk University
. He was responsible for the security of all radar
experiments carried out by the Army Air Corps. A ham radio buff in his youth Uanna excelled in physics and mathematics at Tufts.
Assigned next to the Manhattan Project
, he was in charge of security for the large town and industrial installation built by the US Government at Oak Ridge, Tennessee to refine Uranium for an atomic bomb. Next he would oversee the security for the 509th Composite Group
. The 509th was the Atomic strike force of the Manhattan Project. It was made up of scientists and technicians, an Army Air Corps flight wing and military and intelligence personnel. Uanna oversaw the move of the 509th from their training base in Wendover, Utah to Tinian Island in the Pacific Ocean. On August 6, 1945 a specially equipped B-29 bomber nicknamed the Enola Gay
took off from Tinian to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later on August 9 a second B-29, Bocks Car, dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Shortly after this Japan surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.
In September 1945 he was among scientists and intelligence agents sent to Japan to investigate the Japanese nuclear weapon program and to study the Atomic bombs effect on Nagasaki.
Chosen by the newly created Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC) in 1946 to head up personnel clearance, first as an Army officer and then as a civilian he was responsible for clearing and transferring Manhattan Project personnel and contractors into the AEC. At this time he named and developed the criteria for the AEC's Q clearance
.
(AFSWP) in Kansas City, Missouri. The AFSWP had its headquarters at Sandia Base
in New Mexico. Combining security and engineering responsibilities he was second in command of a large top secret construction project, the storage facilities for America's atomic bomb arsenal.
(CIA), he was an administrative officer and wrote the briefing manual for the Office of Policy Coordination
. The OPC was the covert action branch of the intelligence community and at this time was overseen jointly by the Departments of State and Defense.
(NSRB).
. Otepka was in charge of State's Evaluations Division. It was Uanna's expertise in countering subversion
that landed him this position at the height of Senator Joseph McCarthy
's accusations of Communists and Communist sympathizers in the Army and State Department. Using procedures he developed at the AEC he wrote the Evaluators Handbook that would be used by State Department investigators to review the loyalty and "suitability" of State Department employees in accordance with Executive Order 10450
and Executive Order 10501. He was mentioned, along with Otto Otepka in the 1954 article in The Reporter
entitled "Big Brother at Foggy Bottom." Shortly after this the State Department hired him to review and reorganize physical security.
In 1953 the State Department's physical security was split between foreign and domestic branches. He reorganized these into one group and renamed it the Division of Physical Security. He was named as its new Chief. He then published a Protection of Dignitaries Manual and established the Marine Security Guard Training School. As Chief of the Division he was responsible for the security of all State's personnel and facilities in the United States and abroad including the Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
and later Christian Herter
and all visiting foreign dignitaries. He was the State Department liaison with the U.S. Department of Defense. He was a participant in 1955 in Operation Alert, a civil defense
drill in which U.S. Government officials were taken from Washington, D.C. to a relocation facility in rural Virginia. The aim was continuity of government
in the event of a nuclear attack.
Uanna was a student at American University in Washington, D.C. from 1949 to 1954 where he completed a doctorate course in Public Administration
. Security duties at the State Department which required frequent travel kept him from completing his thesis and receiving his degree.
's visit to the U.S. This is detailed in the July 26, 1958 New York Times article entitled "Security is his Job: William Lewis Uanna".
At the end of the movie Enola Gay an update on the postwar careers of the movie's main characters said that "William 'Bud' Uanna - Later worked for the CIA, was murdered in Africa, all records concerning his death have subsequently disappeared."
Medford, Massachusetts
Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States, on the Mystic River, five miles northwest of downtown Boston. In the 2010 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 56,173...
on May 13, 1909) was a United States security expert. Uanna held many top security positions, and was a security officer on the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
and later Chief of the Division of Physical Security at the U.S. Department of State.
The son of Italian immigrants Anthony and Theresa (Ferullo), he attended Medford High School
Medford High School (Massachusetts)
Medford High School is a public high school located in the West Medford section of Medford, Massachusetts on the southwest border of the Middlesex Fells Reservation...
where he was a star athlete. His athletic ability allowed him to attend Tufts College on athletic scholarships. Standing five feet five inches tall but powerfully built, he was halfback on the football team, an intercollegiate wrestling champion and ran on the track team. He is listed in Volume 32 1962-1963 of Who's Who in America and has been mentioned in magazines, newspapers and has been portrayed in three movies. Actor James Whitmore portrayed him in Above and Beyond
Above and Beyond (film)
Above and Beyond is a 1952 film about Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. It starred Robert Taylor as Tibbets and Eleanor Parker as his wife. James Whitmore played security officer Major Bill Uanna.-Cast:...
, Stephen Macht in Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb, and Minor Mustain in Hiroshima
Hiroshima (film)
Hiroshima is a 1995 Japanese / Canadian film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara and Roger Spottiswoode about the decision-making processes that led to the dropping of the atomic bombs by the United States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki toward the end of World War II. Except as actors,...
.
Engineer, teacher and lawyer
Uanna, whose I.Q. was over 160, acquired a broad educational background that assisted him in a career that was often secret and dangerous. Earning a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1933 and a M.S. in Education in 1934 from Tufts. Among his studies were mental testing, psychology and ethics. According to his Foreign Service Essay written in 1955 he relates that during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
employment opportunities for college graduates were almost non-existent. His intention had been to lecture in engineering but his first job was with a surveying
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
crew as a rodman. He soon progressed to chief of party. Before long he was a superintendent on heavy construction projects. In 1938 he was employed as a civilian by the US Army Corps of Engineers on the construction of Grenier Army Air Field in New Hamshire and Fort Devens
Fort Devens
Fort Devens is an active United States military installation in the towns of Ayer and Shirley, in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It was named after jurist and Civil War general Charles Devens. The nearby Devens Reserve Forces Training Area is...
in Massachusetts where he would later serve as an Army Counter Intelligence agent during World War II. In 1940 he became a member of the International City Managers Association which is now known as the International City/County Management Association
International City/County Management Association
ICMA is an association representing professionals in local government management. It is based in Washington, D.C., USA....
.
US Army Engineer Corps, Counter Intelligence Corps, Manhattan Project and Atomic Energy Commission
Enlisting in the Army in 1941 he was assigned to Counter Intelligence. His enlistment was supposed to be for one year. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 kept him in the war for the duration and beyond. Initially conducting investigations of military personnel as a Corps of Intelligence Police (CIP) investigator he was soon in command of 300 agents operating out of First Service Command in Boston, Mass. In late 1941 the CIP's name was changed to the Counter Intelligence CorpsCounter Intelligence Corps
The Counter Intelligence Corps was a World War II and early Cold War intelligence agency within the United States Army. Its role was taken over by the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps in 1961 and, in 1967, by the U.S. Army Intelligence Agency...
(CIC). At this time he wrote a manual used by CIC Agents. 1000 copies were printed and issued for distribution by the Provost Marshal General. Only a Sargent at this time in 1942 he attended and graduated from Officer Candidate School as a 2nd Lt. in the Engineer Corps. Also in 1942 he would earn an LL.B. from Suffolk University
Suffolk University
Suffolk University is a private, non-sectarian, university located in Boston, Massachusetts and with over 16,000 students it is the third largest university in Boston...
. He was responsible for the security of all radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
experiments carried out by the Army Air Corps. A ham radio buff in his youth Uanna excelled in physics and mathematics at Tufts.
Assigned next to the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, he was in charge of security for the large town and industrial installation built by the US Government at Oak Ridge, Tennessee to refine Uranium for an atomic bomb. Next he would oversee the security for the 509th Composite Group
509th Composite Group
The 509th Composite Group was a United States Army Air Forces unit created during World War II, and tasked with operational deployment of nuclear weapons...
. The 509th was the Atomic strike force of the Manhattan Project. It was made up of scientists and technicians, an Army Air Corps flight wing and military and intelligence personnel. Uanna oversaw the move of the 509th from their training base in Wendover, Utah to Tinian Island in the Pacific Ocean. On August 6, 1945 a specially equipped B-29 bomber nicknamed the Enola Gay
Enola Gay
Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of the pilot, then-Colonel Paul Tibbets. On August 6, 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb as a weapon of war...
took off from Tinian to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later on August 9 a second B-29, Bocks Car, dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Shortly after this Japan surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.
In September 1945 he was among scientists and intelligence agents sent to Japan to investigate the Japanese nuclear weapon program and to study the Atomic bombs effect on Nagasaki.
Chosen by the newly created Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
(AEC) in 1946 to head up personnel clearance, first as an Army officer and then as a civilian he was responsible for clearing and transferring Manhattan Project personnel and contractors into the AEC. At this time he named and developed the criteria for the AEC's Q clearance
Q clearance
Q clearance is a United States Department of Energy security clearance equivalent to a United States Department of Defense Top Secret clearance and Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information . DOE clearances apply for access specifically relating to atomic or nuclear related materials...
.
US Army Armed Forces Special Weapons Project
From 1947 to 1949 he was a civilian again with the Armed Forces Special Weapons ProjectArmed Forces Special Weapons Project
The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project was a United States military agency responsible for those aspects of nuclear weapons remaining under the military after the the Manhattan Project was succeeded by the Atomic Energy Commission on 1 January 1947...
(AFSWP) in Kansas City, Missouri. The AFSWP had its headquarters at Sandia Base
Sandia Base
Sandia Base was, from 1946 to 1971, the principal nuclear weapons installation of the United States Department of Defense. It was located on the southeastern edge of Albuquerque, New Mexico...
in New Mexico. Combining security and engineering responsibilities he was second in command of a large top secret construction project, the storage facilities for America's atomic bomb arsenal.
Central Intelligence Agency
From 1949 to 1951, at the newly created Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA), he was an administrative officer and wrote the briefing manual for the Office of Policy Coordination
Office of Policy Coordination
The Office of Policy Coordination was a United States covert psychological operations and paramilitary action organization. Created as an independent office in 1948, it was merged with the Central Intelligence Agency in 1951....
. The OPC was the covert action branch of the intelligence community and at this time was overseen jointly by the Departments of State and Defense.
Special Assistant to the Secretary of Commerce
From 1951 to 1953, during the Korean War, he was the special assistant to the Secretary of Commerce as Chief of the Facilities Protection Board and was a staff member of the Industrial Evaluations Board. These Boards were overseen by the Interdepartmental Committee on Internal Security (ICIS) and the National Security Resources BoardNational Security Resources Board
The National Security Resources Board was a United States board created by the National Security Act of 1947. It was a part of Cold War Civil defense, and obviously United States Civil Defense in particular...
(NSRB).
US Department of State
In 1953 he accepted a 90-day temporary assignment at the Department of State as assistant to Otto OtepkaOtto Otepka
Otto F. Otepka was a Deputy Director of the United States State Department's Office of Security in the late 1950s and early 1960s....
. Otepka was in charge of State's Evaluations Division. It was Uanna's expertise in countering subversion
Subversion
Apache Subversion is a software versioning and a revision control system distributed under a free license. Developers use Subversion to maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, web pages, and documentation...
that landed him this position at the height of Senator Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
's accusations of Communists and Communist sympathizers in the Army and State Department. Using procedures he developed at the AEC he wrote the Evaluators Handbook that would be used by State Department investigators to review the loyalty and "suitability" of State Department employees in accordance with Executive Order 10450
Executive Order 10450
President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450 in April 1953, effective May 27, 1953. It revoked Truman's 1947 Executive Order 9835 and dismantled its Loyalty Review Board...
and Executive Order 10501. He was mentioned, along with Otto Otepka in the 1954 article in The Reporter
The Reporter (magazine)
The Reporter was an American biweekly news magazine published in New York from 1949 through 1968.In its heyday it was viewed as a prestigious intellectual forum...
entitled "Big Brother at Foggy Bottom." Shortly after this the State Department hired him to review and reorganize physical security.
In 1953 the State Department's physical security was split between foreign and domestic branches. He reorganized these into one group and renamed it the Division of Physical Security. He was named as its new Chief. He then published a Protection of Dignitaries Manual and established the Marine Security Guard Training School. As Chief of the Division he was responsible for the security of all State's personnel and facilities in the United States and abroad including the Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world...
and later Christian Herter
Christian Herter
Christian Archibald Herter was an American politician and statesman; 59th governor of Massachusetts from 1953 to 1957, and United States Secretary of State from 1959 to 1961.-Early life:...
and all visiting foreign dignitaries. He was the State Department liaison with the U.S. Department of Defense. He was a participant in 1955 in Operation Alert, a civil defense
Civil defense
Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
drill in which U.S. Government officials were taken from Washington, D.C. to a relocation facility in rural Virginia. The aim was continuity of government
Continuity of government
Continuity of government is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of nuclear war or other catastrophic event....
in the event of a nuclear attack.
Uanna was a student at American University in Washington, D.C. from 1949 to 1954 where he completed a doctorate course in Public Administration
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
. Security duties at the State Department which required frequent travel kept him from completing his thesis and receiving his degree.
Foreign Service Officer
In 1958 he was transferred to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as an Administrative Officer at the American Embassy. He was called back to the US temporarily in 1959 to oversee the security of Soviet Premier Nikita KhrushchevNikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
's visit to the U.S. This is detailed in the July 26, 1958 New York Times article entitled "Security is his Job: William Lewis Uanna".
Death
Uanna died of a heart attack on the grounds of the American Embassy in Addis Ababa on December 22, 1961. His obituary is found in the December 23, 1961 New York Times column entitled "William Uanna, Security expert: Officer of US Embassy in Addis Ababa".At the end of the movie Enola Gay an update on the postwar careers of the movie's main characters said that "William 'Bud' Uanna - Later worked for the CIA, was murdered in Africa, all records concerning his death have subsequently disappeared."