The Nuclear Intelligence Panel (NIP) is a highly classified nuclear intelligence group within the U.S. government. Its members, including [[Harold M. Agnew]] and [[Louis H. Roddis, Jr.]], conducted their own investigation into the 1979 [[VELA Satellite]] sighting and concluded that a low-yield nuclear weapon had most certainly been detonated. They were dismayed by the extent of White House interference in the investigation, which they believed was politically motivated to find a different explanation for the event.[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.