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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCivil Defense - The Military Support Role 1969BRAZOS COUNTY CIVIL DEFENSE FILE COPY CIVIL DEFENSE The Military Support Role Reprinted from ARMY INFORMATION DIGEST November 1964 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE OFFICE OF CIVIL DEFENSE Civil Defense- The Military Support Role William P. Durkee Director of Civil Defense Office of the Secretary of the Army ABOUT THE AUTHOR: William P. Durkee became Director of Civil Defense, Office of the Secretary of the Army, when civil defense functions of the Department of Defense were transferred to the Secretary of the Army on 31 March 1964. Previously, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DC), he was one of the chief organizers of the current natioinal civil defense effort. A lawyer by profession and graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School, Mr. Durkee fought as an American volunteer with the British Eighth Army in North Africa before United States entered World War II. Wounded at EL Alomein and discharged, he later served as a military liaisons after with the U. S. Embassy in London. ALTHOUGH the Office of Civil De- fense has been a member of the De- partment of the Army team only since 31 March 1964, this civilian agency now under the direct control of Sec- retary of the Army Stephen Ailes actually has a long history of co- operation with the Army in fighting peacetime disasters. Cooperating with civilian authorities and disaster relief workers in Anchorage, soldiers from nearby Fort Richardson were quickly on scene following Good Friday earthquake. When a hurricane lashes a coastal area, a tornado rips through a com- munity, an earthquake shakes a State, we find Army troops and civil defense personnel working side by side to contain damage, save lives and re- store normal conditions. This is the concept of military support for civil authority in emergencies. Military support for civil government —not military control in emergencies —is a manifestation of our democratic proc- ess and is a tradition deeply rooted in national life. A good example of the military support concept is still fresh in the minds of many Americans. On Good Friday 1964, the State of Alaska was rocked by the mightiest earthquake ever recorded on this continent. The catastrophe put to the test not only established civil defense- military plans for emergencies but the ingenuity of both in the face of the disaster. The quake struck at 5:35 p.m., Alaska Standard Time. Within min- utes after the tremors subsided, the State Civil Defense permanent staff was in action and military communi- cations specialists were among the first persons to augment it. Within a short time, military assistance of every kind, requested by civilian authori- ties, was on the way to hard -hit com- munities finder orders from the Com- mander in Chief, Alaska, Lieutenant General Raymond J. Reeves, USAF. When civil officials in Anchorage called together the group that was to coordinate and control the fight against the disaster, General Reeves and members of his staff attended. Subsequently, General Reeves com- mented that he had quickly found it necessary to funnel military assist- ance which he controlled through civil defense to prevent duplication and maintain efficient operations. The major military assistance ef- fort was mounted from Fort Richard- son and Elmendorf Air Force Base. These installations provided the 4th Battalion, 23d Infantry, and units of the 60th Infantry and the 56th Military Police detachment, as well as Air Force personnel and planes for airlift operations, The Alaska Scouts (National Guard), encamped at Fort Richardson, were pressed into serv- ice. At Kodiak, personnel of the Navy station provided military help to local authorities. Civil Defense —The Military Support Role lish plans and carry out emergency operations during and after attack. Under a matching funds program, the Office of Civil Defense shares with the states and cities the costs of main- taining local and state organizations, training people, and building hard- ened local emergency operating sys- tems and command and control com- munications for civilian authorities. OCD provides funds to selected radio broadcasting stations to harden their facilities against fallout to permit continuous radio broadcasting to the public in emergencies. Civil Defense planners anticipate that increased military support for many of these operations will be forthcoming in .the months ahead. In June, the Secretary of the Army ap- proved a plan to use the headquarters of State Adjutants General and Na- tional Guard for planning and con- trolling military support of civil de- fense. Secretary Ailes has outlined the plan in a letter to State Governors and has asked for their acceptance. The plan, developed by a Conti- nental Army Command Planning Group under direction of Major Gen- eral Hugh M. Exton, reinforces the basic policy of the Department of De- fense that military assistance will complement but not be a substitute for civil participation in civil defense. The essential element of the plan is the establishment of a military head- quarters in each State for planning the use of the State's military re- sources in support of civil defense in emergencies. The State Adjutant Gen- eral would have this planning re- sponsibility. Enough space to accommodate 25,000,000 people has been marked for emergency and stocked with food, water, medicines. Continental Army commanders would designate Army active and re- serve units as well as those units of the other services which have been made available to zone of interior Armies to support civil defense op- erations and planning. In a national emergency, it is contemplated that the Adjutant General and his staff would be ordered into active mili- tary service and become the State military commander with the mis- sion of providing military support to civil authorities in accordance with prepared plans. the effectiveness of on active ballistic missile defense sys- tem in saving lives depends in large part upon the existence of an adequate civil defense sys- tem. indeed, in the absence of adequate Fallout shelters, an ac- tive defense might not significant- ly increase the proportion of the population surviving an all -out nuclear attack. Offensive missiles could easily be targeted at points outside the defended area and thereby achieve by fallout what otherwise would have to be achieved by blast and neat ef- fects. For this reason, the very austere civil defense program recommended by the President should be given priority over procurement and deployment of any major additions to the active defenses." Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara before the House Armed Services Committee. 29 January 1964. Today, the Adjutants General and Civil Defense Directors in each State are studying this plan and preparing comments. The outlook is favorable. In 1963, at its convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Adjutants General Association adopted a unani- mous resolution expressing support and approval of the concept. VARIOUS branches of the Army have participated in the new civil de- fense program since its transfer to the Defense Department in August 1961. At the direction of the Office of Civil Defense, the Corps of Engi- neers (with the Navy Bureau of ARMY INFORMATION DIGEST NOVEMBER 1964 Civil Defense —The Military Support Role Yards and Docks) has supervised the monumental task of surveying every structure in the Nation capable of serving as a public fallout shelter. Some additional Army contributions to civil defense — ► Army posts and installations throughout the country are under orders to cooperate with local civil defense authorities on shelter use plans, and are establishing shelters on installations for civilian dependents and employees. ► Army personnel, under CONARC directives, are helping to train civil- ians in the use of radiological mon- itoring instruments. ► Army communications systems are carrying civil defense messages and providing other support. ► An Army unit is touring the coun- try with a mobile civil defense ex- hibit to demonstrate protection meth- ods against radioactive fallout. ► National Guard units have assistec local civil defense agencies with per. sonnel and transport to move fallout shelter supplies from warehouses to local shelters. CIVIL DEFENSE and the Army have long been partners in fighting disaster in peacetime, Today, we are seeing the inauguration of a closely integrated effort, with support and di- rection from the highest defense offi- cials, to place the vast resources, man- power, skills and equipment of the military in a better position to aid civil government under conditions of nuclear attack. A well- coordinated military and civilian effort is basic to a strong structure of national defense —a struc- ture- which serves the cause of peace in this nuclear age. Distribution: OCD Regions State and Territory CD Directors Local CD Directors OCD Schools ARMY INFORMATION DIGEST U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1965 O- 765 -927