Evening star., 1950-09-19
Civil Defense
AgencyWi||B Be
SET Quickly
President Will Act
In Week or Two;
Bill Introduced

S4VA SS4SAAoO AV6AoAoJAOI1
queSted by President Truman ap-
pears certain of prompt after ion
when Congress returns in the fall
or early next year.
The blueprint for putting the
Nation into state of readiness on
the home front reached Congress
yesterday and legislation to put a
Federal program into effect was
promptly introduced.
Although Representative Dur
ham, Democrat, of North Carolina.
who introduced the bill, said he
did not expect action on it until
Congress returns, plans for civil
defense were expected to move
ahead on these fronts:
/. President Truman expects to
set up a temporary Civil Defense
Administration in the next week
or two, financed by his emergency
funds. The new agency presum-
ably will be stated at the outset
with the IS employees of the civil
defense Office in the National Sc
curity Resources Board. Spokes-
men for this Office said they
could start issuing what to do"
manuals and operating some
courses.
Blueprint for Local Action.
2. Cities and States, called on
in the national plan to shoulder
the prime responsibility for their
own protection, are expected to
regard the newly published Ma
tional civil defense plan as the
green light for their own PLAN
ming. Early reaction to the Ma
tional blueprint" was that it
provided the framework for
to-earth planning within
the States.
In the District Assistant Engi-
neer Commissioner Thomas j.
Hayes III said the planning here
has passed the stage for which the
blueprint" document was intend
ed because Washington has worked
closely with NSRB from the out
set. But Col. Hayes predicted
that by following the national
plan and altering it to fit local
situations cities can come up with
satisfactory solutions to their. civil
defense problems.
The NSRB plan, Col. Hayes
added, also will be valuable here in
developing the dozen or more diff
ferent services which will be pri-
marily stated by volunteers.
These range from the warden
service and its fire guard to the
health and medical services with
their complicated setup for de-
tecting radiation and chemical and
biological contamination.
Virginia Promises Action.
In Virginia, Gov. Battle said
his State now will do everything
it possibly can" to complete it's
civil defense setup as quickly as
possible. The Governor said the
Federal plan apparently gives the
for Virginia to go ahead.
The legislation sought by Presi-
dent Truman to give variety Of
Federal aids to the States would
set up a permanent Civil Defen1e
Administration to coordinate
State civil defense operations.
The bill introduced by Mr. Dur
ham, vice chairman of the Sen
ate-House Atomic Energy Com
was sent to the House
Armed Services Committee.
On the Senate side, Vice Presi-
dent Barkley temporarily with
held sending the legislation to
committee because of a past dis
pute between the Armed Services
Committee and the Atomic En-
ergy Committee over which should
handle civil defense matters.
Hearings Held in Spring.
The Atomic Energy Committee,
headed by Senator McMahon.
Democrat of Connecticut, held
civil defense hearings last spring
to check on the state of the ma
tion's civil defense preparedness.
Senator Kefauver, Democrat, Of
Tennessee, chairman of an Armed
Services Subcommittee on Civil
Defense, said if the bill is re-
ferred to his group hearings prob
ably would start during the recess
ito get ready for action as soon
as possible"
Senator Hunt. Democrat, Of
Wyoming predicted action on civil
defense legislation will be one of
the first things Congress considers
when it returns. He is chairman
Of another Armed Services Sub
committee which last spring looked
into the need of drafting standby
measures for immediate enact
ment in case of war.
Barrett Seeks Volunteers.
In the Districts civil defense
planning, there were these devel-
opments:
Police Chief Robert j. Barrett,
launching the new police reserve
corps, appealed to District resi-
dents to start enrolling in their
home precincts He announced
he is now seeking means to equip
members of the corps and to get
the necessary authority regard
ing the granting of police power
to the members of the units when
they have been organized and
trained"
Col. Hayes, meeting with the
National Defense Transportation
Association, urged it's members to
work out a transportation plan
using all forms of equipment ca
pable of moving people and sup
plies.