Evening star., 1950-12-02
Civil Defense Moves
Into Operating Stage;
Caldwell Heads Il
By Miriom Ottenberq


By Miriom Gutenberg
The Nations tagging civil de-
fense program today moved into
the operating stage, with new
boss and White House funds.
President Truman late yester-
day set UP a Federal Civil Defense
Administration and named Millard
F. Caldwell. jr., Ex-Governor of
Florida and a former member
of Congress, to head the agency
The executive order took civil
defense out of the National Sc
curity Resources Board and paved
the way for action by Congress
to create a permanent civil de-
fense agency.
Limited to Planning Before.
Unoer NSRB, civil defense was
limited to planning. and city and
State officials had grown progress
sively more critical of the lack
of guidance from Federal sources
Funds for civil defense amounted
to whatever NSRB could spare
from it's other activities and de-
cisions had to pass through vari-
GUS NSRB levels before reaching
the White House.
Under the new setup. Mr.. Cald-
well will report directly to the
President and will get allotments
to run his agency from the emer-
gency funds granted the Presi-
dent in September.
Mr.. Caldwell's appointment tc
the $17,500-a-year post does not
require Senate approval until leg
islation is enacted to put the
agency on a permanent footing.
Bill Now In House.
White House Press Secretary
Charles G.. Ross said the admins
tration hopes to get permanent
legislation at this session. A bill
creating a Federal civil defense
agency and giving the administra-
tor broad powers to prepare the
Nation to meet enemy attack was
introduced in the House Thursday
but faces a jurisdictional dispute
in the Senate.
On the House side, the plan was
for the bill to be routed to the
Joint Atomic Energy Committee
In the Senate yesterday, however
two identical bills were introduced
One came from Chairman Nc
Mahon of the Atomic Energy
Committee. The other was intro
duced by Senator Kefauver, Demo-
crat of Tennessee, and Senator
Cain. Republican of Washington
of the Senate Armed Services
Committee and its civil defense
subcommittee.
| Neither bill was referred to a
committee. Both Senators McMa-
hon and Kefauver asked that this
action be postponed. They indi-
Gated that the question of which
committee will get the bills will
be debated Monday.
Feature of Legislation.
An important feature of the
proposed legislation is the allot-
ment of funds to States on a
matching basis to buy equipment
and construct shelters.
There Is no provision for ex-
penditures of that kind in the
Presidents executive order but Mr.
Caldwell is given many of the
same duties spelled out in the
proposed legislation.
The order directed him to pro
mote and facilitate the civil de-
fense of the United States in CO.
operation with the several States"
and to perform these duties:
l. Prepare comprehensive Fed
eral plans for civil defense and
coordinate them with civil de-
fense activities of the States and
neighboring countries.
2. Conduct or arrange for re-
search to develop civil defense
measures and standardize equip
ment.
3. Disseminate civil defense in
formation and exchange this data
with foreign countries.
4. Conduct or arrange for train
ing programs for State and local
civil defense leaders and special
lists.
5. Help States make mutual aid
pacts with each other and with
foreign countries subject to the
consent of Congress.
6. Provide for necessary civil
defense communications.
$4,000 a Year Salary.
The administrator was author
lied to appoint a deputy admins
traitor at a salary of $4,000 year
NSRB employees working on civil
defense were transferred by the
order to the new agency. About
rs of them worked in the NSRB
civil defense Office and will be the
nucleus of Mr.. Caldwell's staff
Mr.. Caldwell is we'll known in
Washington, having served in the
House from 1888 to 1941. In his
last term, he headed the House APP
nropriat tions S,lhcnnmittee which
drafted the District appropriation
bill.
At the White House yesterday
he said he planned to fly to his
home in Tallahassee, Fla, imme-
diately and to return Tuesday. He
will be sworn in early next week
and will go right to work.
We'll be very careful in making
4 k11J yHTl;4o rYo,n.