Evening star., 1951-04-06
Civil Defense Far From Ready to Cope With Attack

At the present slow rate of
progress, it will be a long time
before Metropolitan Washington
is prepared to cope with any
enemy attack.
I Civil defense policy is all set.
But the means to make it effective
have not been devised. Much re-
mains to be done to organize and
coordinate efforts Of the District
and the nearby communities of
Virginia and Maryland.
officials still hope. however. to
get the organization on it's feet
this year. If they do, they will
be on the timetable set by Ma
tional Civil Defense Administrator
Millard F. Caldwell, jr. But there
is considerable doubt that they
will reach the goal unless things
move a lot faster.
One big trouble is apathy. To
thousands of persons, civil defense
still is nothing but a vague term.
Either these people do not asso-
ciate themselves with the possible
dangers in an atomic era, or they
recognize no obligations to help
organize for the common good.
' It is a case of "It can't happen
here" or Of LET George do II"
Whole Area Affected.
The situation in the District is
no different from that for the
Metropolitan Area as a whole.
Here. as in the surrounding COM
munities, the creation of a real
civil defense force is a thing of
the future.
While the public'S disinterest is
of concern in official quarters. it
is not clear who or what is re-
sponsible for the apathy. Depend
ing upon ones point of view, these
are among the reasons advanced:
l. Congress has been too slow
making appropriations for civil de-
fense. The States and their COM
munities cannot proceed intelli-
gently until they know how much
Federal money will be available.
The States and the localities
therefore cannot sell their pro-
grams directly to all the people.
: 2. The States should not wait
for Congress. They should make
available such morley as they can.
The localities, in turn, could fol-
low suit.
3. It is contended that some key
officials lack the stature required
for their jobs. The duties of the
higher officials can be performed
properly only by experienced ad-
ministrators with ample authority
and influence. Complaints have
been made that local governing
bodies tend to wash their hands
of civil defense after designating
a subordinate employe to take
charge of the work.
4. The active director or CO.
ordinator In any county or city
should be a full time officer.
S. Some citizens have kept aloof
because of clashing personalities,
local jealousies, etc.
6. The public has not been "ed-
ucated" sufficiently. (The educa-
ton program is not in full swing
for two reasons: Lack of funds
and preference in some COM
munities for gradual development
in order to avoid hysteria)
Good News Saps Interest.
7. Volunteering for service is
directly affected by International
sconditions and the war news. If ]
for example, the Korea military
situation improves, interest wanes
In civil defense.
From the very beginning, the
hope that this country could sur
yive an atomic attack has been
based on the idea of area CO.
operation. The Federal Govern
ment has stated the idea as fol-
lows:
i Civil defense is conceived as a
system which will depend largely
on cooperation between critical
target areas and the communities
around them. To make every
critical target area completely
dependent upon its own resources
would diSlocate the national
economy and jeopardize the rest
of the defense effort"
= Washington, classed as prime
target area. is no exception to
this rule. No one maintains that
the District can protect the lives
and property of its citizens or
provide relief and rehabilitation
. on an adequate scale relying en-
tirely on it's own resources. To
do the job, If it can be done, the
facilities of the whole area must
be organized into a single, CO.
ordinated plan.
The Districts support area, on
paper at least. includes the cities
of Alexandria and Falls Church
and the counties of Arlington and
Fairfax in Virginia, and Mont
gomery, Prince Georges. st. Marys,
Calvert and Charles Counties in
Maryland. For all practical pur-