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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStatement on Civil Defense by Robert McNamara 1962 STATEMENT ON CIVIL DEFENSE BY SECRETARY OF DEFT7S7 ROBERT S. MCNAKARA BFFORE THE SENATE COYMITT7 ON ARMED SERVICES -- JANUAR19, 1962 IX. CIVIL DEFENSE I believe it is quite cle'ir from what I have s earlier, in my diecuesion of the Continentpl ;1.r And Vissile Forces, that a 1005 effective system of military defense against IC9F's and submarine-launched missiles is technically impossible. At least during the period 1963 through 1967 we will have to rely for our survival on a combination of military and civil defense measures. Lt yepr President Kennedy announced a nev national . roFram for civil defense and tr77nsferred primary responsibility for the Federal Government's share of that program to the Department of Defense. He 'ointed out at that time thrt 12 J'oorietions for civil defense in 19(2 would have to triple the level of prior years and would incresse sharply thereafter. This, indeed, hs been the case and we pre now asking for this prupope in fiscal year 1963, Pt total of almost Z700 million. We believe that s sound civil defense grogram for the years ehead should provide: 1, A system of shelters, equipped And. provisioned to protect our population fpom the fallout effects of n nuclear 2. OrFanizntion nnd pl of emergency Potions to carry out decontamination, firefighting, rescue And reconstruction necessary to restore 9. functioning society. An essential onrt of such 7- -roFrrr is n warning srd alerting system to alert the civilian oonulation to imminent attnek, • FALLOUT SHELTERS It is highly unlikely that we could ever provide orotection 7,gainst all the effectsof nuclear deton and certainly not in the impact nre' 71ast rhelter in and around potential target areas for any significant number of people would not only be extremely ex- pensive but would only be effective if peo71e had adequate warning of the attac. But even without rulinF out that host we should first provide fallout shelter. That is certainly within our meens nnd it would protect a considerablepart of our population against 9 mPjor danger of nuclear war. Because most of our worinp populfition must he provided protection both nt work and et home, it is estted that comnlete protection for our entire populetion of 180 million people would require about 220 million shelter spaces todry, rising with population increases rt the rate of About 3 million e yesr. The Federal portion of this progrPm consists of three parts: (1) The Federal Shelter 7urvey -- the identification, mnrkinp., Pnd r)rovisioning of shelter ponces in existinF buildin7s; (2) the Feders1 nhelter Incentive Propram -- the creation through Pn incentive proFrram of addition-1 shelter space by means of ne' construction and alteration or modification of existing structures; and (3) the stimulation of 77;rivnte individunl, business, and community shelter construction by exemole nnd technicp1 essistence. 1. The Federnl Shelter '7urvey The first phase of the Federal Shelter 711.rvey is now under way and is expected to identify approximately 50 million shelter spaces in existinF buildinFs, tunnels, subways, etc. Identification And marking of these shelters should be completed by July of this, six months ahead of schedule, but stocking them with food, water., first '1d supplies And radiation detection meters will continue into fiscal year 1963. The second, or cont1nuinp7, .7,11ase of th.o -,rogrFm will involve the 2 merkinF Rnd provieioninF of ehelter spaces in suitnble new construction over the coming yeere. Since this is the leapt expensive way to erovide fallout protection, we intend to exploit it fully. In edditior, we intend to m 1' the necesepry technical informntion nvelleble to loc-1 and .ete civil defense orgenizatione PO thee, they cnr identify end mart smeller structures with a cnoecity for less than fifty people. Yost of this pence ie not expected to be open to the Fenerel public end we sre not planning on Federal stoceinF and equipping, 2. The Federal Shelter Incentive Propram To assure the early evellability of the greetest number of shelters et Rn early time end at reasoneble cot, we ere proeoeing anew Federal Shelter Incentive ProFrem, This part of the Nntionel 7helter Progrem is intended to obtain addit'onel fallout protection ir etbools, hospitele end coemunity welfare facilities end institution!: by Felling to or modifying existing structures 9nd by incoreoretinF shelter into new construction. Accomelishment of thin eortion of the progrem will require financial greats from the Feder Government. we Proeose thet the incentives teke the form of en allowance, be on the useble c footeee pro- vided for ehelter Fleece. In order to Fet this incentive progrem under way, it will be necensery to emend the Federal Civil Defence Act of 1950. The proposed legislation le being seperntely transmitted to the ConFress. As I pointed out enrlier, the shelter obtnined from the survey proprem is relntively cheep -- coating less then eer pence ineludine stockinF and equippinF. However, we know that tbe cost of providing additionel community ehelter throuFO-. nee conetrectior or mnjor modificetion will be much more expensive. We eptimpte that the evernFe incremental cot of eueh ehelter will nmount to approximntely 440 ner individual *once of 10 prepare feet or 44 per square foot. Of thin emount, we propose that the Federel. Government pay es an incentive an nmount not to exceed 425 ear pence, or e2,50 per square foot or actual cost, whichever is lese. For exemele, it is estimnted that modificetions in eligible buildinrs bevinF sub- stentiel basements would evernFe about 41.75 ner squprn foot or $17.50 per pheltero spece. In this case, the cost would be below the Federal maximum of :25 per apace snd the FederP1 Government would pny the actual coat. The thtel cot of this proFrem over the next four years ir estimeted t about $3.3 billion, of which the Federri Government' here would be shout 41.e billion. For fiscel year 1963, we nre requesting 60 million as the first ennuel increment, From this first step we hope to obtain ebout 20 million peaces. 3. Private Shelter 'ffort Aseuming the continued etimulue of atronp Federal leederehie end exemele And theimenct of P Federal ehelter eroprem, we expect n significant emouet of thenetionel ebelter requirements to bemet by femilies, business firms end other private orgenizetions without cost to the Federal Government, To this end, the Federel Ooverneent bee prennred elens for low-coet basement or bec!eierd home ebeltere. In eddition, technicel neeiptance and advice will bemmade evelleble to erivete business firms and orgamizetions. As a byproduct of the shelter survey, 1PrFe numbers of architect R and engineers will receive Federal trnininF ueeful in slipping deplene for new constructions towards low-cost shelter erotection. 3 4, Federal Ruildinge nnd Yilitery Fecilities During neva year 1963, it le eleo proposed to continue the progrnms now under wry to provide shelters In existing Federal buildinge, For non-militery buildings.10 million WAP provided from the 1962 Civil Defense epproprietion, end million is requested for fiscel year 1963. In addition, 115 million is included in the flecel year 1963 Defense budget to begin a proprem to erovide shelters in exieting military structures such as schools, hospitals end berrpcm, etc. 73y under- te'eing this progrnm, the Deorrtment of Defenee will be setting en example for the Shelter Incentive Proerem end, et the reme time, will be gaining velunble experience in the design Red cost control of ehelter modification in existing buildings. B. '7.VERGENCY 0:7 1. Warning The - present Federelly-operated warning system (terries the signal to Stet° warning pointe, which in turn ere ru for elertirg local communities end thence the generel public through siren, locel radio atetions, etc, • With the increasing ICRY threat end relatively short warning, ere'-ltproved syetem le required, Whet In needed 1 virtuelly instenteneous warning so that the vest majority of our people would have the MAXIMUM time to seek protection. We believe thet theNetionel Emergency Alarm Repeeter system offer r the beet meene of nroviding such werning, 425 million is included in the 1963 budget for warning rnd elert. 2, Other 7mergency Operetione Tinnily, ti Civil Defense erogrem cruet Include the informetion, training, leederehle, end equiement neceseery to use properly the warning end shelter erovided by the other elementeof the progrem, To this end, the emergency operetion segment of the Civil Defense progrem provides for: n. Rediologicel fellout protection erd monitorinF. This include' such ptojecte ns the erovision of equipment for ebout 150,000 eurfece monitoring etetions, eeriel monitoring equiement, don for civil defenee workers, etc, b, Communicetions end control. This includes the telephone, teletype Red recite link-, needed to provide commend communications and warning for the netional civil defense system, These netional communicetione networks will, to the extent precticcble, be integreted with. military systems end operated by the Defense Communiontione Agency, c, 7ducetion end public informetion. In addition to the normsl job of keeping the public informed, this part of the proprem includes the support of adult eduottion, the training of civil defense workere, the preparetion of instructional meteriele, end the provision of technical eeeletence, d. Renenrch and Development. This includes reeenrch projects in euch ere»r glP, shelter deelen, supeort systems end poet-etteck operetions. e, Yetchine contribution to the etatee. This pert of the Civil Defense ereprem provides for the Federal Government's pert of the cost of (n) certain survival eunelles, equipment end treinine; (h) the development. of neergerey opercting center e in every Fitete; .71d (c) the personnel end edminietretive expenees of 71inte end locel civil defenee orgenitatione. G. CIVIL DFENSE - STTIORY In summery, the Civil Defense progrem should provide over e period of yenre: fallout shelter grace for the entire eoeuletion; an effective end timely werning end alerting system; nd s well-inteerete eyetem for post-ettpc!! survival action. The fiecel year 1963 increment 4 of 69.5 million is expocted to develop about 35 million RhOiter somcev FubF advnnce the wrArrirp fystem, an4 elFnificantly Pdvenee our cy• hility for emorpency action.