No Objection To Declassification in Full 2013 11 15 NLC-12-60-5-29-6 3 MEivlORA 'JD U 1 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHl ' To -- July 9 1977 MEMORANDUM FOR HUGH CARTER FROM BILL GULLEY As a result of the OPAL III drill this morning following are the times coordinated with helicopter personnel NMCC and the WHCA Switch board 0734 Drill initiated 0737 10 seconds Clearance received from Washington Tower 0741 50 seconds Helicopters on the South Lawn 0749 43 seconds Helicopters rendezvoused with NEACP NEACP was airborne at 0753 First of all the pilots who stand by in the helicopters at Anacostia do not have the opportunity to land on the South Lawn consequently they are not as smooth coming in as the people who pick up the President As I am sure you know the helicopter came too close to the mansion Without the aircontrollman backing him up the pilot may have Llown the canopy off that covers the entrance to the Diplomatic Reception Room In addition when Bill Odom ran across the South Lawn it cost about a minute More important when the aircontrollman observed this he had the pilot slow the roLor and open the door so that Bill Odom could board Otherwise had the helicopter continued he literally could have swung his tail around and chopped Odom into little bits and pieces with his tail rotor I have discussed this with the helicopter people and I am absolutely convinced that we should never run an OPAL III drill without the aircontrollman manning TEACART Granted that if the balloon went off the aircontrollman may not be ab e to get to TEACART in time and of cour c we would take chances under those conditions that we would not take with a drill I think all of the players should be told that No Objection To Declassification in Full 2013 11 15 NLC-12-60-5-29-6 No Objection To Declassification in Full 2013 11 15 NLC-12-60-5-29-6 I i-- -2whenever an alert is to be given they should allow time for TEACART to always be manned by the aircontrollman From our standpoint other than the danger of Bill Odom running across the South Lawn the drill went very well from the time of notification to the rendezvous with NEACP I assume all went well with NEACP as I monitored some of the communication exercises that were run Cy Herb Upton 'Bill Odom Cliff Sharrock No Objection To Declassification in Full 2013 11 15 NLC-12-60-5-29-6