I looked at the Don Miller article (
http://www.vocativ.com/culture/art-culture/indianas-real-indiana-jones/#!bGut4q) again.
There are some problems, but as for whether they are reporting problems, or problems with what other people said, I don't know. But a lot of things about the "nuclear trigger" and Miller's involvement with the Manhattan Project don't add up.
First, the US had no closed circuit TV at that time. The Germans did; we didn't. Also -- and I've read many accounts of the Manhattan Project and of the Trinity explosion (because my partner's father was part of the Manhattan Project) -- there's no mention at all of CCTV. None.
So either Miller was making it up (the most likely thing, I'd say) or the friends misunderstood what he was saying. Perhaps at a later test -- say, in the fifties -- he did work on CCTV. But not for the Trinity test.
Second, the uranium bomb that was detonated over Hiroshima, and others of its type, did not use the trigger that Gramly describes. Those weapons used the so-called "gun" method, which does not involve spheres. Plutonium weapons use the implosion method, which does involve spheres.
Finally, are we to believe that Miller had a trigger-sized quantity of weapons-grade uranium in his basement? Or plutonium? Or even DU (depleted uranium)?
I mean, just think about it. If we're to believe RMG, Miller, not exactly a Manhattan Project higher-up, walked away from one of the most secret projects in military history with one of the most secret components of a nuclear weapon as a "keepsake?"
And it was never missed?
And that RMG, upon seeing it, realized it was uranium? How, exactly, would that have been done? Did he go there with radiation-measuring equipment?
I don't think so. I can easily believe it was a model (schematic diagrams are easily available) and I can easily believe Miller used it to back up his tall tales.
So I believe that somebody's making stuff up here.
I can believe that RMG dimed Miller, but not because of the "trigger." I agree with scrutin-eyes that the trigger was probably an excuse to point the FBI towards Miller because of the artifacts and other materials. You can avoid the good old "pot, meet kettle" thing by going way outside what the two of them most likely shared.
