Herbert Scoville Jr., 70; Opposed Nuclear Arms

Herbert Scoville Jr., a former Central Intelligence Agency deputy director who devoted much of his career to warning of the dangers of nuclear weapons and their proliferation, is dead at age 70.

Scoville, who had suffered from cancer for five years, died Tuesday at Georgetown University Hospital.

Scoville was assistant director of science and technology for the CIA from 1963 to 1969. He also worked for the Department of Defense, the Atomic Energy Commission and the National Defense Research Committee.

After 27 years in government, Scoville helped found the Arms Control Assn., an organization that disseminates information about nuclear weapons, strategies for controlling them, and the consequences of failing to do so.

Authored Books

His books “Missile Madness” and “Toward a Strategic Arms Limitation Agreement,” both published in 1970, are among the many volumes Scoville wrote on arms control issues. He also served as a witness before Senate and House committees on strategic and defense matters.

Among his last books was “MX: Prescription for Disaster,” published in 1981.

He also was a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, New Republic and other publications.

In a 1983 article in the Post, Scoville said he believed the United States was “drifting toward annihilation. Somehow the public doesn’t seem to be able to grasp the significance of the issue.”

Scoville made extensive national and international tours to promote his ideas for arms control and campaign against the international arms race.

His most recent trip was in January to Stockholm where he spoke at an arms control conference.

Peace Award

In 1981, Scoville was awarded the Rockefeller Public Service Award at Princeton University for his efforts to promote international cooperation and peace.

In accepting it, Scoville noted that public awareness of the dangers of nuclear proliferation must be cultivated.

“It must be nurtured, it must be fertilized and propagated across the land,” he said.

“Without peace we will never achieve the goals that my fellow award recipients have worked so effectively for--goals of a better life for the children of this world. . . .”

Scoville was a 1937 graduate of Yale University who did graduate work in physical chemistry at Cambridge University in England and at the University of Rochester. He is survived by his wife, Ann, three sons and a daughter.