Judge clears sale of atomic memorabilia

Judge clears saleof atomic memorabilia
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge brushed aside the government's attempt to invalidate the auction of two devices that helped detonate the first atomic bomb, saying Friday morning that the military had not proved that the artifacts are classified material.
Government attorneys had initially sought a restraining order to block last Tuesday's auction, then seemed to hedge their bets by asking for more time Friday.
At a brief court hearing, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston denied the government's case on both counts -- declining to give the military time to investigate the plugs by taking them apart and ordering that the sale, which had been on hold, be completed immediately.
The judge said the dispute over the thumb-size artifacts -- two of the last remnants of an event that hastened the end of World War II and ushered in the Nuclear Age -- was "not a national security issue."
The San Diego-area retiree who bought the devices was ebullient as he walked from the federal courthouse to the offices of Butterfields Auctioneers to pick up his purchases.
Clay Perkins, a former General Dynamics rocket scientist, said he was inspired to become a physicist in part because of the atomic bombs.
Israel arms new subswith cruise missiles
WASHINGTON -- Israel has acquired three diesel submarines that it is arming with newly designed cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, according to former Pentagon and State Department officials, potentially giving Israel a triad of land-, sea- and air-based nuclear weapons systems for the first time.
The U.S. Navy monitored Israeli testing of a new cruise missile from a submarine two years ago off Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, according to former Pentagon officials.
One former senior American official said U.S. analysts have studied the nuclear capability of the cruise missile. But, according to a former Pentagon official, "It is above top secret knowing whether the sub-launched cruise missiles are nuclear-armed." Another former official added, "We often don't ask."
The possible move to arm submarines with nuclear weapons suggests that the Israeli government might be increasingly concerned about efforts by Iraq and Iran to develop more accurate long-range missiles capable of knocking out Israel's existing nuclear arsenal, which is primarily land-based.
National landmark
DIXON, Ill. -- Ronald Reagan's boyhood home was designated a national historical site Friday, while the street he walked along as a child was dedicated to the former president.
Hennepin Avenue, where Reagan's family lived, was renamed Reagan Way. The school and church he attended and the library he frequented were also on the street.
U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, whose district includes Dixon, presented a copy of the bill President Bush signed in February declaring the home a historical site.
Reagan, 91, last visited the area in October 1990, four years before he announced he had Alzheimer's disease and dropped out of public life. No members of his family joined the crowd of about 200 at Friday's ceremony.
Combined dispatches