OCT 20 1966

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20506

October 17, 1966

Dear Josh:

Thank you for your inquiry of recent date concerning the
SST's sonic boom "pollution. "

Let me first allay some of the apprehensions implied by your
questions. The problems of SST development, including those
associated with sonic booms, have been subject to continuing review
by the government at several levels. A Presidential Advisory
Committee on the SST, under the chairmanship of Secretary McNamara,
has been active since its establishment by an Executive Order early in
1964, A National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Sonic Boom,
under the chairmanship of John Dunning, was established about the
middle of 1964 as a result of a request by President Johnson to the
Academy for technical advice in this area. And, finally, for the last
year and a half, I have been chairing an Interagency Coordinating
Committee on Sonic Boom Studies (which includes Dunning and several
members of his committee as participants and consultants) to insure
that decisions concerning the SST development program which are
importantly dependent on sonic boom considerations do have the benefit
of timely and sound scientific advice. I believe this structure of
advisory committees has been working well, has to date provided the
kinds of basic guidance the SST development program has needed, and
has tended to insure that the conduct of the program, as well as its
final results, will indeed serve the public interest.

9 1V 404

With respect to some of your specific questions, my personal
views are as follows:

a. Both of the current competing designs for the U.S. SST are
being evaluated by an interagency committee. No authoritative state-
ments can be made about their sonic boom characteristics until after
this evaluation has been completed and reviewed.

b. At daily repetition rates characteristic of expected commercial
airline operations, we still do not know what levels of sonic booms will
be acceptable as a part of the permanent environment. Accordingly, one
-2-

of our major technical problems (and we are working at it quite hard)
in predicting the economics of future SST operations is whether (and
how) commercially successful SST's can be built for overland and/or
overseas routes. This was recognized by the President and his SST
Advisory Committee when he requested the NAS study, and you are
well aware of his concern for the non-economic factors in the quality
of American life.

With respect to your general question, ''what should I know to
be able to write a thoughtful critique,'' a good start can be provided
by a number of reports, including results of several community over-
flight tests performed by and for the FAA and NASA. I have asked
the Office of Supersonic Transport Development of the FAA to supply
you with a bibliography, and I am told, they will do so shortly.

Please let me know if I can be of further help to you.

Sincerely,

Donald F. Hornig
Director

Dr. Joshua Lederberg

Department of Genetics

Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford Medical Center

Palo Alto, California 94304