HomeMy WebLinkAboutCivil Defense under the Department of Defense 1961 CIVIL DEFENSE UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
MR. LAWRENCE KLAMON
STATE CONFERENCE OF DEFENSE AND DISASTER RELIEF DIRECTORS
NOVEMBER 13, 1961
For many years state and local Civil Defense directors have been urging
gcvernment at all levels to make preparations to protect the civilian population in
the event of nuclear war. In July of this year, the President took action to give
this program leadership and support needed for a long time. The Soviet contrived
crisis in Berlin and the Communists' resumption in nuclear testing has heightened
the upsurge of interest in Civil Defense. These events present Civil Defense
officials at the federal, state and local levels an opportunity to rectify past
inadequacies, now that we have executive and public support for our program. But
as you know there are many problems in achieving the task we have set for ourselves -
an adequately prepared civilian population to add strength to the defense of our
country.
In his recent speech to the United States Civil Defense Council in Los Angles,
Assistant Secretary of Defense, Steuart Pittman - who is in charge of Federal Civil
Defense Program - stated: "America being what it is, Civil Defense must be
community - oriented and it must be personal initiative oriented. It is my conviction
that the federal program should be conceived in this philosophy ". As you know, a
vast program of federal supporting activity and guidance in Civil Defense is being
developed, but as Mr. Pittman pointed out that "if the community is dead to the
problem" supporting activity is pointless. With this policy guidance in mind I
would like to discuss with you some Civil Defense subjects which I em sure are of
concern to you; these include:
1. The present Department of Defense Organization as it affects you at
municipal and state level of government.
2. The present National Shelter Program.
3. The new Warning Program (the NEAR System).
4. Matching funds programs and the present Department of Defense Civil Defense
Budget.
. In the range of tasks facing Civil Defense, the development of fallout protec-
tion has been given highest priority. Equally important, however, is a more rapid
means of distributing warning information down to the family level (Project NEAR).
Dynnmlc developments in weapons, both in their effects and the speed of delivery
have limited warning time in the missile era to about 15 to 30 minutes. A new and
rapid warning system had to be developed. Thus, in preparing against an all -out
attack priority must be given to these two tasks - fallout protection and warning.
Fallout protection is something which can be accomplished within available
resources. This protection is needed for all governmental installations including
those at the municipal level if legal authorities to assure the continuity of
society itself are to survive. It is for these reasons, therefore, that the
President, in his recent letter to the Governors' Civil Defense Committee, stated
a goal of fallout protection for all as a nation -wide objective. I will have more
to say about the details of this program later.
I know that many of you are asking: What about the old program? What about
evacuation? What about the old probable target designations? What about existing
planning assumptions and existing programs such as current training programs?
As for evacuation, we realize that reliance has been placed on this technique
as a means of saving the civilian population in target cities in past civil defense
planning. In an era in which surprise attack can come with little warning, however,
a new orientation is clearly necessary. In certain localities evacuation may still
be feasible on a strategic basis, but in general we all know that short warning
time in the missile era and the long reach of fallout requires reorientation of
many local plans and must include the movement of the populace into nearby shelters.
You may be sure that there will be adequate federal guidance to assist you in your
planning.
Because of the need for specific guidance in each locality concerning warning
time, probable targets and probable effects, we plan to arm our Defense Department
Regional Organizations with the best available information on these subjects so
that the municipalities can through the states can get specific information for
your locality rather than generalized statements for the notion as a whole. In
this area the Department of Defense Regional Headquarters in Denton, will be able
to supply this information when available.
Much of the effort in the Pentagon in these first two months has gone into a
quick start on the new program to bring into use shelter space for over 50,000,000
people in existing buildings, subways, tunnels or even caves. A by- product is a
massive training program which will help spread the technology of anti - radiation
construction through the Army Corps of Engineers, Navy Yards and Docks and about
2,000 civilian architects and engineers. Data on all major structures in the
country will be amassed on IBM cards for use in analyzing radiation protection
capacity and for possible use in later modification of these buildings to increase
sheltering capacity. Marking, stocking and equipping of these shelter spaces will
take place during most of 1962. The success of this program will depend on you
and place heavy demands on you.
What is the role of the municipal government in the new shelter program? What
is the local civil defense director expected to do to carry out the objectives of
the program? Since these shelters as marked are designed to protect the inhabit-
ants of a particular city, town or county, the role of the local director is of
key importance. The Department of Defense shelter program supports the local
director in his responsibility to protect the citizens of his jurisdiction in war
emergency. The work of the National Shelter Survey and subsequent phases must be
tied in closely therefore to existing local governmental authorities. The local
director will be asked to assist in the first phase of the National Fallout Shelter
Survey in the following ways:
1. After a building has been identified for potential shelter use the local
civil defense director will be asked to contact the local owner of the
building to effect an agreement in a prescribed format for the use of
the space designated as a shelter, if feasible.
2. The local director will be asked to provide the means by which these
shelters are to be stocked. It will be his task to organize the local
community to move shelter supplies from a supply point in the community
where the Federal government will stockpile these shelter supplies.
3. The local director will be responsible to develop a local plan for the
use, maintenance and protection of designated shelter spaces and equipment
in the community.
Basically at the community level it is in your hands to make a decision
whether or not this shelter program can be made effective. We will be relying
largely on your decisions and your ability to rally local community support for
this program. Since the local director's role will involve additional expense to
the local civil defense organization (in some intances hiring of temporary personnel)
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provision will be made to assist you under the matching fund program.
Descriptive material outlining the entire program and the different tasks to
be performed at the various levels of government in the present phase of the
National Shelter Program will be made available to you through your Regional office
in Denton. It is important that this first phase of the Shelter Program -- the
identification, marking, and stocking of shelters -- be accomplished as speedily as
possible. There will be many problems, but we have given sufficient authority to
the regional director in your area who will be able to assist you through your
State director. Working together, the end result of this first phase of the shelter
program will be an marked increase in your capability to protect the citizens in
your area.
You may be interested in the Defense Department Civil Defense budget and the
purposes for each budget item.
OCD has over one quarter billion dollars this year, and most of it will go
right down to the grass roots of the country.
Specifically, our appropriation is programmed to do these things:
1. In cooperation with local civil defense organizations, to find, mark,
and furnish with food, water, radiation instruments, and sanitary facili-
ties the existing shelter space in buildings open to the public. .
$169,300,000
2. To start a new warning system of the home buzzer -type and to improve
command communications and radiological detection systems . . 27,800,000
3. To strengthen information programs including emergency broad-
casting 5,000,000
4. Contributions for personnel, emergency operation centers and /hardware"
to be equally matched by State or local funds 22,000,000
5. Research 15,000,000
6. Supporting Services. 12,500,000
$251,600,000
Of special interest to you may be the item of 22 million dollars as the
Federal Contributions appropriation. As you know, in addition to matching funds
on a 50 -50 basis with state or local government for Civil Defense organizational
supplies and equipment, the Federal government has been matching funds for per-
sonnel and administrative costs - -all designed to increase the operating capability
of local Civil Defense.
The response of both state and local governments to the availability of these
funds in the past has been unsatisfactory for the country as a whole. Only a
few communities possess protected emergency operating centers. In many instances,
advantage has not been taken of matching funds for training and equipment.
I know that community Civil Defense directors know this; but until local
government is willing to make financial sacrifices by allocating funds to be match-
ed, we will not achieve an adequate capability at the local level of government.
The efforts of millions of unpaid Civil Defense volunteers deserve the support
of not only the Federal government but of county and municipal governments.
Most of you are planning budgets for the next year now. I urge you to at-
tempt to obtain appropriation of sufficient amounts of money to take advantage-of
available matching funds.
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We in the Department of Defense are taking a hard look at administrative im-
pediments to your participation in the Federal matching funds program as well as
the Surplus Property program. Our goal is to simplify and streamline procedures
wherever possible.
We have talked of Civil Defense organizations at all levels - -which involve
personnel, staffs and teams; of operational plans and planning guidance- -which
entail written or paper plans; of emergency equipment and supplies. But until
we have trained persons to fill organizational slots, trained personnel who know
the provision of current plans, trained teams to use emergency equipment and sup-
plies properly, we will not have an effective Civil Defense. Therefore, you can
expect a thorough review and improvement of training facilities and schools, train-
ing literature and manuals, and training objectives. I believe we will have to do
more by way of bringing training to the community level, and ways to do this are
being studied.
I believe that vigorous leadership by the heads of local government is
needed to solve the training problem. It does not cost a lot of money to train- -
mostly hard, undramatic work. By setting requirements for minimal training of ex-
isting municipal resources, much can be accomplished.
Time does not permit that I elaborate in detail on all programs planned but
I would like to mention the urgent need for providing reliable information to the
public about the nature of the threat and what can be done on individual in-
itiative by informed, responsible people. Every citizen will receive from the
federal government a set of suggestions for every American home owner about the
precautionary steps to be taken because of the threat of nuclear war. This book-
let should be ready for distribution in about a month.
In this and any other programs to support your preparations, we plan on a
systematic method of keeping you officially informed in advance of announcement
of new programs.
As we move ahead in the expanded Civil Defense program, better and improved
ways to give federal assistance are planned. Technical assistance to communities
in developing community shelters is under study. Incidentally I would like to
take this occasion to note the outstanding effort of many Texan communities in
developing shelters on their own which rightfully deserves praise. It is my under-
standing, also, that Texas has a vigorous volunteer Civil Defense organization.
It is only when private initiative working with government is achieved all over the
country that we will be able to reach the goal set in developing fallout and other
protection for all of our citizens. Within available resources, therefore, the
Federal Government will render all assistance possible to your efforts.
The Department of Defense Civil Defense Program has as its immediate objec-
tive and is devoting maximum energy toward your level of government -the community,
where lives will be saved in the event of war emergency. We in the Department of
Defense are proud to be associated in partnership with each and every community in
the United States in this gigantic task. I know that we can count on you to carry
on and do your part in the business of defending our homeland.
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