several times suddenly postponed; trade magazines were fed items about the difficulty of seeing advance copies; proof copies were sent out to literary editors and almost immediately called back, etc.) Still, we can agree with “John Doe’s” claim that “our Report can be considered on its merits,” apart from the teasing genetic puzzle. And, on its merits, Report from Iron Moun- tain is certainly worth reading.
According to the story, the Special Study Group—consisting of thirteen scientists and social scientists, one lawyer and one businessman, all of whom “had done work of distinction in at least two fields’”—was secretly convened in August 1963, on the in- itiative of a Washington agency that did not identify itself precisely. The Group was given the mission “to de- termine, accurately and realistically, the nature of the problems that would confront the United States if and when a condition of ‘permanent peace’ should arise, and to draft a program
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