George Washington University's National Security Archive and Nuclear Proliferation International History Project noted that the debate over the South Atlantic flash has shifted over the last few years, on the side of a man-made weapon test. The National Security Archive briefing concluded: The newly released research and subsequent report was largely based upon recently declassified documents in files at the National Archives of Gerard C. Smith, a former Ambassador and special envoy on nuclear nonproliferation during Jimmy Carter's presidency. Smith had once said: "I was never able to break free from the thought that the event was a joint operation between Israel and South Africa." The documents cited a June 1980 U.S. State Department report where DIA Vice Director Jack Varona had said the ensuing U.S. investigation was a "white wash, due to political considerations" based on "flimsy evidence". He added that the "weight of the evidence pointed towards a nuclear event" and cited hydroacoustic data analyzed by the Naval Research Laboratory. The data, he suggested, involved "signals... unique to nuclear shots in a maritime environment" and emanating from the area of "shallow waters between Prince Edward and Marion Islands, south-east of South Africa". Avner Cohen stated that "Now, 40 years later, there is a scientific and historical consensus that it was a nuclear test and that it had to be Israeli." In 2018, a new study made the case for the double flash being a nuclear test. In popular culture The West Wing episode "The Warfare of Genghis Khan" includes an element based on the Vela incident. In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the Vela incident is mentioned in a tape recording and in the ending timeline. The NCIS: Los Angeles season 4 episode "Descent" references the Vela incident. See also Nuclear weapons and South Africa Nuclear weapons and Israel Footnotes References Released by FOIA request, Frank Ruina, chair, 23 May 1980. Further reading External links Report on the 1979 Vela Incident 1 September 2001 1979 South Atlantic "Flash" is Consistent with a Nuclear Explosion, According to Newly Declassified Energy Department Documents 1 March 2001 Israeli Nuclear Weapons Testing Jeffrey Richelson (ed.), The Vela Incident Nuclear, Test or Meteoroid?, US National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book No. 190, 5 May 2006 William Burr and Avner Cohen (eds.), The Vela Incident: South Atlantic Mystery Flash in September 1979 Raised Questions about Nuclear Test, National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing