Evening star., 1949-10-21
Rifle Chiei
Urges Minute Men
To Fight Sabotage
By the As,oeioted Press


DENVER, Oct. 21.-A modern
organization of minute men to
meet threats of Communist sabo-
tage was proposed today. 1t was
termed the key to adequate Sc
curity.
The plan was offered by c. B.
Lister of Washington, executive
director of the National Rife As
sociation. Mr.. Lister helped draft
the first manual on home guard
organization in World War II.
He asked his Board of Directors
to help establish a new internal
security force of civilians in their
States while there is time"
Russia could cripple this Ma
ton in II hours without ever
using an atom bomb" Mr.. Lister
declared in an interview elaborat-
ing on his plan.
"A lot of falkland very little
action-on civilian defense plans,
centering mostly on disaster relief,
has betrayed the average Amer
ican into sense of security.
But the Communists could at
tack without warning. They could
do it through their cells scattered
over the United States.
{ Even if the FBI has spotted
every cell and evesys Communist,
they could effectively sabotage
our power and communication
Systems. our water supply and
Transportation net, and our vital
/ industrial plants. They could
do it before wholesale arrests
could be made. -
while our top military men
are wrangling over long range
strategy, they are overlooking
their own back yard. They ale
neglecting to provide protection
for the base to put their strategy
into action and keep it in action
THAT protection-much as the
military thinker may hate to
admit it-can be provided by
civilians without cost. Those
civilians want to protect their
home. their jobs and their way
of life. All they need is a little
direction" Lister declared.
His plan provides simply for
matching each Communist cell
with a cell-or two cells-of
minute men.
These would be organized in
every community and every stra-
tegic industrial plant. They would
be voluntary. Their assignments
would be to guard familiar OBJ
jects: the highway bridge at the
edge of town; the dam backing
up the reservoir that provides
water for their farmlands; the
local power station; the big trans
former at the factory; the tele-
phone switchboards.
Nobody would have to move
any further than we might go
on a Sunday picnic most no
more than a few blocks from
home" Mr.. Lister pointed out.
Most would never see any sort
of action-but the few squads that
did would keep the Nation alive
instead of letting it be paralyzed.
Formal organization would be at
a minimum, within each State
through adjutant generals, then
sheriffs and designated sector
commanders. In an emergency,
minute men could be alerted in
matter of minutes. Friend would
join friend to rush to key spots.
Control by the military wouk
be small. So would police control.
After all. they have their
emergency, M-day assignments"
Mr.. Lister said. Even the Ma
tional Guard, our old militia, is
organized to become a Federal
force in event of national emer-
gency. We have no home guard"
His plan. Mr.. Lister said, 'is
nothing radical. It's kept Switzer-
land free republic for more than
600 years. 1t won us our inde-
pendence. What we need is some
concrete plan to put it into effect.
Objections that it could lead to
military dictatorship is asinine.
An armed, alert citzenry is the
best guarantee against just that"