Just a thought experiment, let’s say the earth is flat, looks like many professionals would know, including
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Pilots/ATC/sea captain
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Land surveyor and civil engineers
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Astronomers and Geologists, at least the one dealing with experimental data
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Militaries, at least radar operator and artillery
Just these categories are already a lot of persons, I assume I miss a lot of others. So how many person does it make in total ? 10 % of the population ?
Wasn’t the Manhattan project compromised from within because of communist sympathizers, or even outright communists working on the project?
Depends what you mean by compromised.
Some of the scientists there were communists, or at least sympathetic to the communist cause. Since the USSR was currently an ally, they leaked information to them.
Other scientists didn’t follow security rules, either because they didn’t care, they hated the lockdown, or they wanted a challenge. Information slipped out because of that, even if it wasn’t a deliberate attempt to compromise the security of the project.
I wish Oppenheimer had spent less time on the trial, and more time on some of the really interesting scientists on the project. People like Richard Feynman, who was famous for playing bongos, trying to learn throat singing, and cracking the safes on campus just for fun. And, although slightly after the war, Louis Slotin and the Demon Core incident would have been an excellent scene for a movie.
This is what I mean by compromised.
Correct, though that wasn’t the only leak, just the most serious.