in august, tsien had a conversation on the subject with the then under secretary of the navy dan a. kimball, whom tsien knew on a personal basis. after tsien told him of the allegations, kimball responded, "hell, i don't think you're a communist", at which point tsien indicated that he still intended to leave the country, saying "i'm chinese. i don't want to build weapons to kill my countrymen. it's that simple." kimball then said, "i won't let you out of the country."