YOUR CIVIL DEFENSE

this is disaster the product of nature or the handiwork of man who is immune from its fury I'm Leo Hoyt director of Nations civil defense we all know a great deal about disaster both natural and man-made as a nation we have survived many crises in this nuclear age there could be a disaster of a different magnitude think for just a moment if you will of the challenge confronting us today the world is divided into two factions on the one side the forces of freedom on the other the forces of communism today one hydrogen bond releases more explosive energy than all the bombs dropped on Japan and Germany in World War two added to this is the strange Menace of fallout I do not anticipate war but the danger is inescapable an enemy and desperation or ensure idiocy could push the wrong button the very existence of this threat the capability of an enemy to launch a massive assault makes it imperative that we prepare our defenses we have developed the greatest peacetime military force in our history but military power the capacity to fight back and to retaliate is no longer total defense to assure the survival of our nation we must have equally an effective non-military defense no nation however desperate is likely to attack another which has the dual capacity to survive and to retaliate with annihilating power the actions we take to develop this deterrence the actions we take for our survival whether military or non-military cannot be postponed until the bonds are falling they must be built into our daily thinking and living provide a sound basis for our non-military defense we have prepared a comprehensive civil defense plan this plan with its annexes is based on the premise that every citizen in all governments federal state and local share the responsibility for protecting life and property from enemy attack with the federal government having the overall responsibility of guiding the total effort this plan outlines the manner in which the vast resources of all governments will be marshaled to meet this threat it sets forth your responsibilities of knowing the threat and how to meet that threat it outlines step-by-step how we can sustain ourselves in case there should be an attack the Canadian North a land of snow and ice desolate rugged almost impassable yet it has been penetrated and built upon not from choice but from necessity for in this age of supersonic aircraft some of the shortest routes to the heart of America crossed the sky above this wilderness and so men have come here build a garrison one of America's first lines of defense the distant early warning line spanning the continent the do lion and its companions the Mid Canada and pine tree lines stand silent centric at sea and in the air still other sentries watch from these far-flung radars come reports to warning centers of the North American Air Defense Command tear positions of aircraft are plotted and planes are trafficked until their identity is established thus the military defense of America stands ready alert for possible enemy attack and here to America's civil defense starts beginning at NORAD a strong chain of measures designed to help this nation survive nuclear assault is being forged the first links are the three warning centers now and be working with the military civil defense warning officers staffed these centers around the clock they know the situation at any moment using the national warning system these officers can instantly alert more than 200 warning points across the nation from them in a matter of minutes a warning can be transmitted to local systems and to the public if attack is imminent television and radio stations will be silent to deny the aggressor navigational aids however radio stations will be allowed to return at reduced power to broadcast local survival instructions on the 640 and 1240 conelrad frequencies a national communications needed to coordinate emergency government is also ready for operation the system can be fully activated within an hour this network will assure the continuity of vital communications between agencies of the federal government these agencies have major civil defense responsibilities they are ready now to operate from established relocation sites ready to marshal the nation's vast resources for use in disaster resources such as manpower who transportation and fuel power and water if we are attacked everything that helped build this nations will be channeled into the effort to sustain and rebuild in addition to these reserves of basic resources many special items that would be critically needed in a national disaster are being stockpiled by the federal government in Depot's across the country resources such as medical supplies and equipment of all kinds are being stored included our nearly 2,000 complete prepackaged hospitals these 200 bed units can be set up in existing hospitals schools churches and similar buildings they are available now to States and political subdivisions for pre positioning and training purposes critical engineering equipment is also being stockpiled but effective use of these materials depends on an ability to assess surviving resources at a staffed computer Center basic resources data are being assembled on magnetic tapes when fed into computers along with data on weapons the amount of location of remaining resources can be determined a comprehensive radiological defense program is also underway thousands of measurement instruments have been distributed and many more will follow in training courses across the nation men and women are being trained to measure fallout radiation and to evaluate the hazard in addition steps have been taken to enlist the aid of highschool science departments in the training program in these courses over 1 million students a year will be trained on the effects of Fallout and on radiological monitoring fixed monitoring stations operated by the Civil Aeronautics administration and the United States weather bureau will also aid in assessing the fallout danger but we still must find better ways of preparing our defenses and so research is being conducted in a wide variety of fields inexpensive warning devices that plug into power outlets in homes offices and shops sound systems for use in noisy city commercial areas shelters to provide protection from blast heat and radiation human reaction to disaster all are being studied to help protect this nation's most precious resource its people today every state every city and town is within striking range of a determined enemy after an attack many areas may be isolated then only the self-sufficient will survive hence survival plans tailored to the problems of individual states and their communities have been developed in conformity with the national plan today almost 100% of the nation's population is covered by some form of plan for local emergency operations in some localities plans have already been followed with decisive action Portland Oregon for example has provided for a succession of all key officials to ensure continuity of leadership regular city services police fire health and welfare have been given alternate disaster assignments and citizen volunteers have been carefully trained as auxiliaries in keeping with national policy provision is made for rapid evacuation of the city of time permits and for using available shelter if there is not enough time to evacuate Portland also has a protected alternate operation center from which its government can carry on records that are essential to government operation and vital for the protection of individual rights have been duplicated and stored at the site but despite our well laid plans if nuclear war does come survival will be a starkly personal matter government no matter how well organized will take some time to function thus it is essential that we make our own individual and family preparations a fallout shelter equipped with enough water and food for two weeks and a battery radio should be an integral part of every hope everyone should participate in and understand his community's plan for emergency action someone in each household should be prepared to administer first aid warning signals and what they mean should be firmly fixed in every month civil defense is everybody's business our ability to survive a nuclear attack depends first on how well each of us is prepared and on how well government at all levels is prepared to carry out its emergency action when the individual and when governments are so prepared then we will have effective civil defense another deterrent to war the mission of civil defense is to save lives and to protect property and at the same time to preserve and perpetuate our concept of self-government a concept that upholds the rights freedoms and the dignity of the individual our mission is not an easy one but it is one that with your help and we will account