features
Battalion/Page 5B
September 16, 1982
Civil defense: Can U.S. citizens
be protected from nuclear war?
■
, United Press International
World War III: wailing sirens,
terror, full-scale panic, holo
caust, death by incineration, by
radiation, by dismemberment.
If it happened, is this the
prospect — or an incorrect im
pression?
Most Americans seem to be
lieve this. Nuclear warfare
would make the earth a seared,
poisoned planet. Survivors
would exist like animals in a
world so ugly and dangerous,
life would not be worth living.
For more than 20 years, this
belief has been cultivated by
military and federal leaders. It
has been reinforced by imagina
tive moviemakers and science
fiction writers.
■ Today, the belief is deep-
seated in the American psyche,
o much so that renewed vitality
|in the federal civil defense prog-
Iram is generating widespread
land determined resistance.
President Reagan approved
fin March a 7-year, $4.3 billion
civil defense program designed
to give increased protection to
the civilian population. White
House officials say they will de
cide this fall whether to ask Con
gress to expand the program by
pother $3 billion to protect key
ndustrial facilities and workers.
So far the renewal of activity
y the civil defense bureaucracy
las been relatively minor. But
this activity is making people
i| pngry, generating lengthy de-
* fbate in Congress, lending sub-
Btantial strength to the ever-
~ (present disarmament move
ment.
Reaction has been sharp. A
5-day wave of anti-nuclear senti
ment in August brought record
numbers of mass arrests.
On Aug. 9, 37th anniversary
of the Nagasaki bombing, the
J“no nukes” movement provoked
[civil disobedience at military and
nuclear facilities across the
country — from Strategic Air
Command bases in Nebraska
and Michigan, to a research firm
in New York City and fallout
shelters in Atlanta.
At last count, 30 cities and
towns — including Chicago, Phi
ladelphia, New York and San
Francisco — have issued formal,
outright refusals to cooperate
with nuclear civil defense plan
ning.
Planning for protection of
civilians against atomic weapons
has been under way, with varied
intensity, for more than 30
“Tens of millions of
additional lives could be
saved if even low-cost,
realistic preparations
were made — especially
realistic preparations
for evacuating our cities
and rapidly building
good expedient shelters
during a worsening cri
sis. ” — Cresson H.
Kearny.
years
fense
igsworth
his
But today, the civil de
controversy appears
stronger than ever.
Proponents assert that even
in an all-out attack, only 5 per
cent of the nation’s land area
would be affected by blast and
heat. They say an adequate eva
cuation plan can save millions of
lives — an effective shelter prog
ram can protect millions more
against fallout. They reject the
total destruction hypothesis.
Opponents say warning and
shelter systems are useless and
merely encourage war hysteria,
given the destructiveness of
modern weapons.
Jonathan Schell, in a series in
The New Yorker magazine and
a new book, “The Fate of the
Earth,” says any serious attempt
by either side to protect its popu
lation from nuclear attack would
probably result in increased
armament by the opposing side.
Sweden, Switzerland, China,
Canada and other nations have
extravagant civil defense plans
at the ready. Some American ex
perts believe Sweden could pro
tect fully 90 percent of its popu
lation in case of an attack.
But others point out that only
a few countries would actually
suffer the direct effects of nuc
lear attack. The other nations
only have to protect their civi
lians against the effects of
fallout.
And many experts scoff at
the Soviets’ massive program,
saying the Russians are good at
setting up bureaucracies, but
not very good at carrying out
plans.
Still, they concede the Rus
sian civil defense program is bet
ter than the preparations that
have occurred so far in the Un
ited States, which are viewed
across the nation as, at best, in
effective and, at worst, dan
gerous.
Tests of evacuation plans
have proven to be failures.
Theoretically air-tight to protect
against fallout, shelters in
Washington state were found
contaminated with dust from
the Mount St. Helen’s eruption.
Shelters are no longer stocked
with edible foodstuffs. Radia
tion counters have been re
moved because of potential
theft.
There are two options in case
of attack: evacuation or taking
cover in shelters.
The Federal Emergency
Management Agency, which is
at the top of the civil defense
bureaucracy, released results of
a poll July 3. It reported most
Americans approve of plans to
evacuate them from high-risk
areas in the event of nuclear
war. But it also showed that few
make it their top civil defense
concern and many are unaware
the plans exist.
But o
planning
In a li
isition to evacuation
las been intense.
In a list of “Ten Illusions of
Civil Defense,” two physicians,
H. Jack Geiger and Eric Chivian,
note that even if major evacua
tions of the risk areas were suc
cessful, the Soviet Union would
simply reset their weapons to
strike different targets.
A spokesman for the Federal
Emergency Management Agen
cy said the idea of communities
voting on evacuation plans is a
“new phenomenon.” He said
although 30 communities have
voted not to take part in any eva
cuation planning against nuc
lear attack, the agency has not
yet taken any steps to cut off fed
eral funds to those communities.
In April, Philadelphia offi
cials voted to reject any federal
“It is now commonly
acknowledged that eco
nomically feasible shel
ters cannot provide pro
tection against the blast,
heat, intense radiation
and mass fires that
would probably occur in
densely populated re
gions of the country/’
Jonathon Schell, author
of “The Fate of the
Earth.”
funds for evacuation planning
after hearing from 40 speakers
representing medical, educa
tional, scientific and religious
organizations. There were no
witnesses defending the idea of
drawing up evacuation plans.
Two governmental bodies in
California cities — San Francis
co and nearby San Jose — voted
against evacuation planning.
Beverlee Myers, California
director of health services,
opposing crisis relocation, said,
planning for relocation of the
population encourages the idea
that world leaders can have nuc
lear shootouts without lots of
civilian victims.
Many officials are upset that
the 20-plus years planning for
civil defense has produced little.
“The Center for Defense In
formation estimates that tax
payers have given $2.7 billion
for civil defense programs,” said
Marilyn Braun, director of
North Carolina’s Greensboro-
Guildord County Emergency
Management Assistance Agen
cy. “But in this same period we
have never seen anybody pre
sent a workable plan to minimal
ly protect people from nuclear
war.”
Problems with civil defense
planning already in existence
are manifold.
The other option of civil de
fense, that of shelters, is dis
counted by Schell and others as
ineffective.
Despite the controversy, civil
defense planning will continue.
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U.S. civil defense history:
up and down like hemlines
United Press International
In many nations, civil defense
has been a top priority since civi
lians became bombing targets in
World War II.
But most residents of the Un
ited States did not become
threatened with wholesale des
truction at home until 1949
when Russia first detonated an
atomic weapon.
Like hemlines, America’s civil
defense budget has risen and
fallen several times since then.
The Civil Defense Act was
passed by Congress in 1950. In
1954, the government began re
leasing material for general dis
tribution teaching the popula
tion that fallout, as well as blast
damage, was a significant dan
ger of atomic warfare.
There were studies, recom
mendations and some budgets
set aside during the Eisenhower
administration, but it remained
for President John F. Kennedy
to become the moving force be
hind the nation’s first full-scale
CD program.
Kennedy won from Congress
$312 million to build shelters.
His requests gained support be
cause of the missile crisis m Cuba
and the Berlin Wall crisis. Civil
defense advocates of today say
about 10 million Americans
spontaneously evacuated their
homes during the Cuban missile
showdown.
But, for the most part, serious
civil defense planning against
nuclear attack died with Kern
nedy in Dallas. By 1969 the CD
budget had been pared to $49
million. Air raid drills in schools
and factories ended. Shelter
provisions were neglected,
allowed to rot, sold as surplus or
stolen.
The Johnson and Nixon
administrations cut the CD
budgets substantially, funneling
much of the money instead to
the war in Southeast Asia.
A revival of civil defense plan
ning occurred when President
Jimmy Carter was convinced the
Soviet Union was developing a
massive system to protect its
population in a nuclear conflict.
Now President Reagan has
moved to effect the plans made
under Carter but never funded.
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