Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-10-18
Evacuation SET
For District on
arning
Eisenhower Aide
Urges Formulation.
Testing Of Plan

At the flrst wsrning Of o prob-
able enemy attack. everyone IN.
the District win Be ordered To-
leave the city whether they
want TO Of not.
This was disclosed yesterday
lby Cofndr. Edward L. Beach,
naval aide to President Eisen-
hover, who revealed 3 secret Ma
ltional Security Council order
signed BY the President.
At present. the National Capt.
tai has no evacuation plan.
It Is the only city In e target
AREA In which local officials will
Ihave no discretion In directing
Ian evacuation during or before
Ian attack. Cosndr. Beach said.
Comdr. Beach urged q meet
ling Of District, Federal. Virginia
land Maryland ofiicials 10 get TO
work on planning and testing .
mass evacuation plan for the
Icity.
Plans already exist. Cmdr.
Beach said, for emptying the
white House. and the Once Of
Defense Mobilization has Q plan
for continuing the Government
lat some other place.
Need Il Cited
But spokesmen for each noted
lat the District Building meeting
THAT their plans may not be able
TO get on the ground unless the
District has an orderly eyacua-
Ition and survival procedure
ready.
Comdr. Beach pointed out that
the air defense warning signal
calls for activation Of civil de-
Tense plans in States. but leaves
the District no option,
On confirmation Of the alert,
the District Is required to carry
lout an evacuation, he said.
Given o few minutes head
start, Comdr. Beach explained.
Ia White House evacuation by
auto probably could clear the
lcity. But committed TO q stimuli
taneous warning. the White
House finds It's plan depending
tremendously" on that Of the
District.
Three Major Points
He said that the District
should contemplate three things:
! A workable, tested evacuation
plan: master planning assutnp-
tions for all agencies and pro-
vision for an effective command
post. which would be tied into
other command posts.
Henry r. Hurley. director Of
continuity Of Government di.
vision Of the One 81 Defense
Mobilization, said plans FOR con-
ltinuance OF Government have
been wen advanced.
n evacuation were required
tomorrow. he said. key agencies
would be able to operate from
their relocation sites, although
considerable more work would
have TO be done In the event Of
Ia long war.
"As far advanced as It Is, !.
he said, .'tlie plan can be con-
Isiderably retarded II the evacua-
ltion and survival plans for this
particular area do not keep
pace"
In explaining the survival plan
program. Harold 1. Aitken, ex-
iecutive assistant administrator
Of the Federal Civil Defense Ad-
ministration, said that I'VE are
very much interested In accel-
Grating this project to the ex-
TENT possible.
This Is q particularly complex
problem, !" he noted, however.
"and it Is better to spend the
time now developing the propo-
sal than later In backing up and
recheclking. =
Join In Program
In yesterdays action, the Dis,
trict. Maryland and Virginia ac-
cepted the invitation Of the Fed
eral Civil Defense Administers
ton to take part In the Survival
Plan Program. which involves
the preparation and testing of 81
survival plan for the District
and surrounding areas In the
two States.
The District and the States
entered into q tentative agree
ment to proceed with the work
necessary to prepare and test 81
survival plan.
The Federal agency,s program
Is q $40 million effort TO get Isl
major American cities to take
the action. It win finance ex-
tensive local studies Of how TO
evacuate city populations, take
care Of them afterward, and get
them home again II the cities
are still standing after attack.
To obtain q share Of the $40
million fund appropriated BY the
last session Of Congress. the
cities must get the cooperation