Joseph O. Zurhellen, Jr. was the replacement for [[William N. Dale]] as deputy chief of mission at the American embassy in [[Tel Aviv]]. He followed Ambassador [[Walworth Barbour]]'s cue and was much less interested in [[Dimona]]. Zurhellen explained that Barbour was not well versed in technical matters and that the embassy's view was that much of the international concern about [[Dimona]] had been deliberately fostered by [[Israel]] as "disinformation."[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 12.