Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-10-08
Russia Runs
System Of
Civil Defense
By DAVID BARNETT

North American Newspaper Alliance
If Mrs. Nikita Khrushchev
really doesn't know that the
Soviet Union has an extensive
civil defense program, United
States intelligence officers will
be glad to give her some facts
and figures.
The wife of the Soviet Pre-
mier told a group of Western
peace marchers" that Russia
was not building any bomb
shelters and was not getting
ready" for nuclear war be-
cause there is no defense in
a nuclear war"
American authorities find it
difficult to believe that she
could avoid knowing about the
extensive Soviet training pro-
gram. even if her husband
didn't tell her about it.
Information on the program
was pulled together recently
for the office of Civil Defense
Mobilization, now the office
of Emergency Planning. The
memo prepared for Director
Frank B. Ellis states:
The USSR maintains an
elaborate civil defense system
and a massive civilian program
of compulsory training"
Extensive Program
Soviet civil defense is known
by the abbreviation MPVO,
which is an organization of
professional civilian personnel.
Civil defense officers in MPVO
are involved in city planning,
which puts them in a good posi-
ton to push for industry dis
persal and the incorporation of
shelter feature in all new con-
struction.
, Training for leadership in !
civil defense is handled pri-
marily by a paramilitary organ
ization known as the Voluntary
Society for Cooperation with
the Army, Air Force and Navy.
This group, with a membership
of more than 80 million, is run
by General of the Army D. D.
LelyuShenko.
For the past six years, rank
and file citizens have been re-
quired to attend civil defense
training classes.
The scope and intensity of
the training program as it is
now conducted probably mean
that more people have learned
the fundamentals of civil de-
tense in the Soviet Union than
in any other country" the
memo states.
Course Disclosed
The Soviet training course
has been revised four times
since 1855. The 1860 version is
an 18-hour course in practical
training in post-attack prob
lens.
This is what that course is
like:
One hour of instruction in
evacuation and shelter proce-
dureS. h-a'f '~ - 81
One hour on protection
against radioactive fallout and
the civil defense organization |
Of the general population
against fallout.
Three hours of training in
rescue and repair work.
Two, hours of fire fighting
and rescue operations in the
target area affected primarily
by atomic heat.
Four hours on first aid,
search and rescue and the
evacuation Of casualties.
Four hours on the use Of
Pathological instruments, chem
ical detector kits and decon-
termination procedures.
Three hours of examinations.
Shelters Stressed
The memo comedies that
United States information on
Soviet shelters is "far from
conclusive" But, it continues,
the indications are that the
inclusion of protective con-
struction features" in new
apartment houses and other
new buildings has been a
standard practice in many CEN
tiers of population and in
duStry."
Basement shelter" already
is available "to an important
segment of the urban popula-
ton in many areas Of the
USSR," the report states.
The memo concludes that
the Soviet civil defense system
may be considerably less than
adequate in terms Of defense
against large-scale nuclear
warfare" but the Communists
obviously are trying hard.
The 1860 training program
alone, the memo estimates;
costs at least 500 million. In
the United States the total
spent for civil defense by Fed
eral, State and local govern
ments for the 1860 fiscal year
was $16,509, 900.