November 23, 1965

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD ON POWER FAILURE IN THE

NORTHEAST U.S. NOVEMBER 9, 1965 AND THE ABLE
ACTIVATED IN RESPONSE TO THE POWER FAILURE
All decisions based on Duty Officer Log .in order of events as they
happened.
Cause of power failure could not be determined after thorough check
of all our normal channels of information including the Joint Chief of
Staff Command Post. This is reflected in the D. 0. Log.
Several military establishments were also out of power and were
gradually resorting to their own generating capabilities, this includes
the Air Divisions concerned.
The lack of specific information at the time, plus the state of confusion
that existed in the Northeast U.S., the fact that sabotage, enemy
actions or unknown phenomena were all possibilities led the Director,
C. L. to recommend to the Director, OEP the implementation of. the
ABLE condition. Recommendation was approved and so carried out.
Had there been any of the above possibilities proven an ATLAS condition
would have been recommended.
The expenditure involved in the conduct of this ABLE condition was
justified in that it provided an insurance that had the situation developed
to the contrary we would have been ready to perform our mission as
assigned.
The letter of commendation from the Director, OEP,attached, shows
his appreciation to our response.
This concludes the report of activities in connection with this incident.
COPY LBJ LIBRARY

J. Leo Bourassa, Chief
Special Facilities Division
..
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF EME RGENCY PLANNI N G
WASHINGTON,' D. C
OFI'ICE Or THE OIRECTOR November 17, 1965
'
t
.
'.
COPY LBJ LIBRARY
Dear Leo:
I just want you to know that you and your staff
did a terrific job during the period of the
n?rtheastern bl ackout. I am real proud of
your performance and it is a pleasure to work
with you.
Mr. J . Leo Bourassa
Chief, Special Facilities Divisi on
Office of Emergency Planning
OFFICE OF EMERGENCY PLANNII'.
DUTY OIFFIC!EIR LOS
DateNoy.q-10
1
J06S
Duty hours 16.30 to 0800
Duty OCCicer name Tborras W. Haea n
Your scheduled relief is ---------------
TIME
1620
1755
1814
1816
1825
1827
18.34
18.38
1840
1845
1855
1856
1905
191.3
1945
Form OEP 75
October 1962
COPY LBJ LIBRARY
.
REMARKS
Report ,.on duty" to Communications Center.
7
Mr. Bourassa cs.lled. Regional Director O'Connor had reported
power ehut off all over Northeast. Mr. B. would eet in touch with
JCS, Command Pos t and be back.
Guard called, said alarm light showing in Building 1.
Hr. Bourassa called back; informed alarm light showing
...
TCS called, said Washington h9d call from I terior Departmen
asking for Interior Duty Officer. Gave 1-lr. Agnew' 6 home number
Joined to Charlie Conference in which Bourassa exchanged views
with conferees, said would be back.
Mr. Bourassa called, said hed bad Charlie Conference and vould bo b: ck.
Mr. Elliott called for information.
Assistant Director Cosgrove called for information.
A\lk.
Jill'. Bourassa called, said had called A.t-la's alert} n:e to
report immediately to his office in Area Bll
Arrived Mr. Bourassa's office.
Hr. Riordan called, said wanted to be connected to Army Supply Cent r
at Niagara Falls Airport. Called TCS and conne< tio
be wade but was told TCS was swamped with alert calls and co\ud not
at the time.
Rep. Horton called, seeking Gave him Mr. O'Connor's
mnnber.
5171 to request all AP a nd UPI copy on blackout bJ rushed to
Mr. Bourassa's
Mr. Bourassa Guard t o pass word to all in Area n to r epor'
to Area B.
Signature of Duty Olllcer
OFFICE OF EMERGENCY PlANNI"
DUTY OfFIClEfil LOG
Duty Officer name _______ _,_ _ ____ ___ _
Date ------ -

Duty hours ____ _
Your schedul ed relief is----- -------:----
.
TIME REMARKS
Report " on duty" to Communications Center.
/'oll( c
2005 l-1r. Bourassa went on p1ging system tQ exP.lain .A:t:la:a.
2030 Mr. Smith reported total personnel rece1ved m facillty at 502.
2040 Mr. Bourassa went on p1ging system to reFeat explanation.
2110 Region 2 reports no outage r emains i n that r egion.
2130 Mr. Smith reported total pe rsonnel received in fa cility_ at 605.
2140 Mr . Bourassa went on paging system t o repee.t explanati on.
2328 Mr . Bourassa, upon i nstruction from Deputy Dir ector Dryden, cance11rd
A l>l e.
Attn.
I
~
L - - - ~ w . l ~ ~
Slgnoture ol Duty omW
Forrn OEP 75
October 1962
COPY LBJ LIBRARY