Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced an agreement between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Radio Corporation of America which will provide young natives of Alaska and American Indians with broad opportunities for electronics training and for jobs in the worldwide RCA communications and defense warning systems.
The agreement, Secretary Udall said, not only opens new doors of economic advancement to Indians and Alaska natives but also will assist the defense of the United States.
Under the agreement technical training in electronics will be given to the qualified Indian and Alaska native students at two RCA institutes in New York City and Los Angeles, Calif. Job opportunities will be available to the graduates at missile tracking and other defense warning or communications installations operated by RCA throughout the free world.
The first contingent of seven Alaska natives is leaving Fairbanks by RCA plane, Friday, February 24, for New York City where they will be enrolled at the RCA Institute for the new term starting February 28, Those who complete the training successfully will be employed in Alaska to man the White Alice Communications System and the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS).
In addition, RCA plans to send personnel specialists to Alaska in the near future to interview native high school students concerning jobs and training following their graduation this coming spring.
Use of technically trained natives to staff the installations in Alaska, Secretary Udall pointed out, will be beneficial not only to the economy of the northernmost State but also from the standpoint of national defense. In the past, he added, technicians have had to be brought in from the other States at great expense.
