Evening star., 1961-06-16

The time is the future. Tht
place is the White House. ThI
problem is how to convince thC
enemy we will fight if he take
a step he has threatened.
The President fully intends
to fight. BomberS are on air
Second of Two Articles
borne alert. More Army divi'
sions are on their way to Eu.
rope. Aircraft carriers are con-
verging on the North Atlantic
But the enemy thinks we arr
bluffing. He tells the White
House: Your Army canno
fight it's way into country K
If you use nuclear weapons
we'll shower rockets on you
country. Country x is of NJ
value to you; we'll take it oVel
at midnight"
How does the President make
it clear to the enemy that We
believe that country x mus
be defended? What is the mos
convincing thing we can do
short Of starting the war nj
one wants?
A Sign to the Enemy
Proponents Of a new $40 bill.
lion civil defense plan say il
contains an answer. Under il
the President would order al
unneeded civilians in SO metro.
politan areas evacuated to pre-
pared shelters in the country
BY that one stroke, they say
he could show the enemy we
are prepared to go to- war and
could insure that if global wal
resulted, this country and most
Of its inhabitants would survive
This is the sort of cold-war
hot-war thinking that is going
on in the new administration
1t Is reflected in the office oi
Civil and Defense Mobilization
the civil defense agency where
Director Frank B. Ellis has put
together the new Federal-State-
local program designed to make
civil defense contribute actively
to national security.
The bulk of the $40 billion
would be spent on shelter con-
struction. The Federal Gov
ernment would build many
shelters itself. and State and
local governments and indi-
vidualS would be subsidized in
a variety Of ways in order to
stimulate further construction
The rest Of the money would
go for stockpiling food and
medical supplies, marking OF
existing usable shelter space,
distributing radiation meters,
installing home afraid warm
ing devices, public education
and emergency and postwar
planning. The OCDM would
become an "Office of Emer-
gency Planning" and would be-
come responsible for policy
making and guidance. A num-
Der Of other agencies-the De-
partments of Defense, Com
merce, Agriculture. Health, Ed
ucation and Welfare, ETC.
would carry out the specific
programs.
FallOut Protection
Most Of the shelters would
provide protection only from
radioactive fallout, as shelter
from blast and fire may be diff
ficult to achieve.
Evacuation during the build
up of a crisis is part of the
plan, but once a hail Of enemy
missiles were on its way, the
Is to 20 minutes available
would not be enough to permit
people to flee. Therefore evac-
uation of cities after an attack
is launched is not contem-
plated.
The new plan would leave
essential workers in a city, join
families together and then
send them to pre-designated
places in the country-perhaps
to resort areas, small towns
and special shelters. Detailed
plans for each city have not
yet been prepared.
It is felt that the new plan
not only could save scores of
millions Of lives in time of ac-
tual war, but also could give
American diplomacy a new
lever in cold-war maneuvering
Mr.. Ellis believes that an
effective civil defense program
-fallout shelters, stockpiled
materials, a crisis evacuation
plan, a recovery program -
would make it clear that this
country will and can defend its
vital interests around the
world. He feels it would help
handle nuclear blackmail
threats.
"You cannot operate success
fully a foreign policy or a de-
fense policy in this age without
a husky civil defense capabil-
ity," Mr.. Ellis told a con-
gressional committee on May 2.
He urged Congress to support
a program that will definitely
help deter nuclear war, back
up the President as he makes
his awesome foreign policy de-
cisions and spark the will of the
American people to resist any
rocket-rattling ultimatum."
This argument was welcomed
by Congressman who have
waited a long time for the
OCDM to get steam behind its
civil defense proposals.