Interview focuses on Romney's involvement in the technical and political debates related to seismic detection of underground nuclear explosions during the 1950s and 1960s. Trained in seismology at Berkeley, he began in1949 to work for Beers and Heroy, an Air Force contractor, which developed methods for the detection of Soviet nuclear explosions. There he became involved in the Department of Defense's early efforts for the seismic detection of underground nuclear explosions. As the DOD's leading seismic detection specialist, Romney played a central role in a number of technical conferences involving U. S. and Soviet scientists. These conferences, which aimed at defining the state of the art in seismic detection techniques, had direct consequences for the diplomatic negotiations for a nuclear test ban. Romney describes in detail the technical and political controversies of the Geneva Conference of Experts (1958), the Technical Working Group 2 (1959), and the Seismic Research Program Advisory Group (1960). During the 1960s Romney became a key figure in the development of new seismic detection systems for the DOD's Project Vela Uniform, which aimed at the improvement of U. S. seismic detection capabilities.
