---
born: 1921-03-28
category: Nuclear Scientists & Programs
died: 2013-09-29
location: Denver, Colorado
summary: American physicist and Los Alamos director (1970-1979) who served on the
  Nuclear Intelligence Panel and criticized suppression of the VELA Satellite findings.
tags:
- Person
- Nuclear
- Physicist
- Israel
---

Harold M. Agnew was an American physicist and director of the [Los Alamos](/places/los-alamos/) laboratory from 1970 to 1979. He was a member of the Nuclear Intelligence Panel (NIP), a highly classified nuclear intelligence group in the U.S. government. Agnew and other NIP members were dismayed by the extent of White House interference in the investigation of the 1979 [VELA Satellite](/concepts/vela-satellite/) sighting, which they concluded was a low-yield nuclear weapon detonation. Agnew famously stated, "If it looks like a duck, it's got to be a duck," in reference to the event, but noted that this was "not an answer [Carter](/people/jimmy-carter/) liked."[^1]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.