Civil defense Civil defense ( civil defence ) , ( see spelling differences ) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state ( generally non - combatant s ) from military attack . It uses the principles of emergency operation s : prevention , mitigation , preparation , response , or emergency evacuation and recovery . Programmes of this sort were initially discussed at least as early as the 1920s and were implemented in many countries , but only became widespread after the threat of nuclear weapon s was realized . Since the end of the Cold War , the focus of civil defense has largely shifted from military attack to emergencies and disasters in general . The new concept is described by a number of terms , each of which has its own specific shade of meaning , such as crisis management , emergency management , emergency preparedness , contingency planning , emergency services , and civil protection . In some countries , civil defense is seen as a key part of " total defense " . For example in Sweden , the Swedish word " totalförsvar " refers to the commitment of a wide range of resources of the nation to its defense - including to civil protection . Respectively , some countries ( notably the Soviet Union ) may have or have had military - organized civil defense units ( Civil Defense Troops ) as part of their armed forces or as a paramilitary service . History . In most of the NATO states , such as the United States , the United Kingdom or Germany as well as the [ then ] Soviet Bloc , and especially in the neutral countries , such as Switzerland and in Sweden during the 1950s and 1960s , many civil defense practices took place to prepare for the aftermath of a nuclear war , which seemed quite likely at that time . Such efforts were opposed by the Catholic Worker Movement and by peace activists such as Ralph DiGia , on the grounds that these programs gave the public false confidence that they could survive a nuclear war . In many western countries there was never strong civil defense policies implemented because it was fundamentally at odds , and violated the West ' s doctrine of " mutual assured destruction " ( MAD ) by making provisions for survivors . It was also considered that a fully fledged total defense would have been very expensive and not worth the expense . Above all , compared to the power of destruction a defense was seen by much of the public , for whatever reason , to be fundamentally ineffective and therefore a waste of time and money . Despite evidence that detailed scientific research programmes lay behind the much - mocked government civil defence pamphlets of the 1950s and 1960s . There are not supposed to be many survivors in a belligerents country following a MAD scenario for a civil defense system to assist ( thus the acronym ) . Governments in most Western countries , with the sole exception of Switzerland , therefore sought to mostly underfund Civil Defense but nevertheless implement effective , but commonly dismissed civil defense measures against nuclear attack , in the face of popular apathy and scepticism of authority . However the USSR military strategy during the cold war was contrary to MAD ideology , and the Soviets recognized that winning a nuclear war was possible . To this effect the Soviets planned to minimize , as far as possible , the effects of nuclear weapon strikes on its territory and therefore spent considerably more thought on civil defense preparations than in the US , with therefore , defense plans that have been assessed to be far more effective than those in the US . Civil defense has different sirens like the Federal Signal Thunderbolt siren to warn people of a coming attack . Public service announcements including children ' s songs were created by government institutes and then distributed and released by radio stations to educate the public in case of nuclear attack . During the Cold War , civil defense was seen largely as defending against and recovering from an attack involving nuclear weapons . After the end of the Cold War , the focus moved from defense against nuclear war to defense against a terrorist attack possibly involving chemical or biological weapon s ; in the context of the United States this eventually led to the replacement of the United States´ civil defense with the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) . Soviet Civil Defense Troops played the main role in the massive disaster relief operation following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident . Defense Troops reservists were officially mobilized ( as in a case of war ) from throughout the USSR to join the Chernobyl task force formed on basis of the Kiev Civil Defense Brigade . The task force performed some high - risk tasks , including manual removal of lethally - radioactive debris . After the September 11 attacks in 2001 , in the United States the concept of civil defense has been revisited under the umbrella term of homeland security and all - hazards emergency management . In Europe , the triangle CD logo continues to be widely used . The old US civil defense logo was used in the FEMA logo until recently and is hinted at in the United States Civil Air Patrol logo . Created in 1939 by Charles Coiner of the N . W . Ayer Advertising Agency , it was used throughout World War II and the Cold War era . In 2006 , the National Emergency Management Association — a U . S . organisation made up of state emergency managers — " officially " retired the Civil Defense triangle logo , replacing it with a stylised EM ( standing for Emergency management ) . . The name and logo , however , continue to be used by Hawaii State Civil Defense and Guam Homeland Security / Office of Civil Defense . The term " civil protection " is currently widely used within the European Union to refer to government - approved systems and resources tasked with protecting the non - combat population , primarily in the event of natural and technological disasters . In recent years there has been emphasis on preparedness for technological disasters resulting from terrorist attack . Within EU countries the term " crisis - management " emphasises the political and security dimension rather than measures to satisfy the immediate needs of the population . In Australia , civil defence is the responsibility of the volunteer - based State Emergency Service . In Russia , and most former Soviet countries , civil defence is the responsibility of Governmental Ministry , Like the MChS in Russia . The abolished Civil Defence Symbol survives in the Universal Prepper Patch UPP symbology of today . Importance . Relatively small investments in preparation can speed up recovery by months or years and thereby prevent millions of deaths by hunger , cold and disease . According to human capital theory in economics , a country ' s population is more valuable than all of the land , factories and other assets that it possesses . People rebuild a country after its destruction , and it is therefore important for the economic security of a country that it protect its people . According to psychology , it is important for people to feel like they are in control of their own destiny , and preparing for uncertainty via civil defense may help to achieve this . In the United States , the federal civil defense program was authorised by statute and ran from 1951 to 1994 . Originally authorised by Public Law 920 of the 81st Congress it was repealed by Public Law 93 - 337 in 1994 . Small portions of that statutory scheme were incorporated into the Robert T . Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( Public Law 100 - 707 ) which superseded in part , amended in part , and supplemented in part the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 ( Public Law 93 - 288 ) . In the portions of the civil defense statute incorporated into the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act the primary modification was to use the term " Emergency Preparedness " wherever the term " Civil Defence " previously appeared in the statutory language . An important concept initiated by President Jimmy Carter was the so - called " Crisis Relocation Program " administered as part of the federal civil defense program . That effort largely lapsed under President Ronald Reagan who discontinued the Carter initiative because of opposition from areas potentially hosting the relocated population . SEE Presidential Review Memorandum / NSC - 32 ( September 30 , 1977 ) and Presidential Decision Memorandum 42 . Threat assessment . Threats to civilians and civilian life include NBC ( Nuclear , Biological , and Chemical warfare ) and others , like the more modern term CBRN , Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear . Threat assessment involves studying each threat so that preventative measures can be built into civilian life . This would be conventional explosives . A blast shelter designed to protect only from radiation and fall - out , however , would be much more vulnerable to conventional explosives , also see fallout shelter . Shelter intended to protect against nuclear blast effects would include thick concrete and other sturdy elements which are resistant to conventional explosives . The biggest threats from a nuclear attack are effects from the blast , fires and radiation . One of the most prepared countries for a nuclear attack is Switzerland . Almost every building in Switzerland has an " abri " ( shelter ) against the initial nuclear bomb and explosion followed by the fall - out . Because of this , many people use it as a safe to protect valuables , photos , financial information and so on . Switzerland also has air - raid and nuclear - raid sirens in every village . A " radiologically enhanced weapon , " or " dirty bomb " uses an explosive to spread radioactive material . This is a theoretical risk , and such weapons have not been used by terrorists . Depending on the quantity of the radioactive material , the dangers may be mainly psychological . Toxic effects can be managed by standard hazmat techniques . The threat here is primarily from disease - causing microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses . Various chemical agents are a threat such as nerve gas ( VX , Sarin , and so on . ) . Stages . Mitigation . Mitigation is the process of actively preventing the war or the release of nuclear weapon s . It includes policy analysis , diplomacy , political measures , nuclear disarmament and more military responses such as a National Missile Defense and air defense artillery . In the case of counter - terrorism , mitigation would include diplomacy , intelligence gathering and direct action against terrorist groups . Mitigation may also be reflected in long - term planning such as the design of the interstate highway system and the placement of military bases further away from populated areas . Preparation . Preparation consists of building blast shelter s , and pre - positioning information , supplies and emergency infrastructure . For example , most larger cities in the U . S . now have underground emergency operations centres that can perform civil defense coordination . FEMA also has many underground facilities located near major railheads such as the one in Denton , Texas and Mount Weather , Virginia for the same purpose . Other measures would include continuous government inventories of grain silos , the Strategic National Stockpile , the uncapping of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve , the dispersal of lorry - transportable bridges , water purification , mobile refineries , mobile de - contamination facilities , mobile general and special purpose disaster mortuary facilities such as Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team ( DMORT ) and DMORT - WMD , and other aids such as temporary housing to speed civil recovery . On an individual scale , one means of preparation for exposure to nuclear fallout is to obtain potassium iodide ( KI ) tablets as a safety measure to protect the human thyroid gland from the uptake of dangerous radioactive iodine . Another measure is to cover the nose , mouth and eyes with a piece of cloth and sunglasses to protect against alpha particle s , which are only an internal hazard . To support and supplement efforts at national , regional and local level with regard to disaster prevention , the preparedness of those responsible for civil protection and the intervention in the event of disaster Preparing also includes sharing information : Response . Response consists first of warning civilians so they can enter Fallout Shelter s and protect assets . Staffing a response is always full of problems in a civil defense emergency . After an attack , conventional full - time emergency services are dramatically overloaded , with conventional fire fighting response times often exceeding several days . Some capability is maintained by local and state agencies , and an emergency reserve is provided by specialised military units , especially civil affairs , Military Police , Judge Advocate s and combat engineer s . However , the traditional response to massed attack on civilian population centres is to maintain a mass - trained force of volunteer emergency workers . Studies in World War II showed that lightly trained ( 40 hours or less ) civilians in organised teams can perform up to 95 % of emergency activities when trained , liaised and supported by local government . In this plan , the populace rescues itself from most situations , and provides information to a central office to prioritize professional emergency services . In the 1990s , this concept was revived by the Los Angeles Fire Department to cope with civil emergencies such as earthquakes . The program was widely adopted , providing standard terms for organization . In the U . S . , this is now official federal policy , and it is implemented by community emergency response team s , under the Department of Homeland Security , which certifies training programmes by local governments , and registers " certified disaster service workers " who complete such training . Recovery . Recovery consists of rebuilding damaged infrastructure , buildings and production . The recovery phase is the longest and ultimately most expensive phase . Once the immediate " crisis " has passed , cooperation fades away and recovery efforts are often politicised or seen as economic opportunities . Preparation for recovery can be very helpful . If mitigating resources are dispersed before the attack , cascades of social failures can be prevented . One hedge against bridge damage in riverine cities is to subsidise a " tourist ferry " that performs scenic cruises on the river . When a bridge is down , the ferry takes up the load . Implementation . Some advocates believe that government should change building codes to require autonomous building s in order to reduce civil societies ' dependence on complex , fragile networks of social services . An example of a crucial need after a general nuclear attack would be the fuel required to transport every other item for recovery . However , oil refineries are large , immobile , and probable targets . One proposal is to preposition truck - mounted fuel refineries near oil fields and bulk storage depots . Other critical infrastructure needs would include road and bridge repair , communications , electric power , food production , and potable water . Civil defense organizations . Civil Defense is also the name of a number of organizations around the world dedicated to protecting civilians from military attacks , as well as to providing rescue services after natural and human - made disasters alike . In a few countries such as Jordan and Singapore ( see Singapore Civil Defence Force ) , civil defense is essentially the same organisation as the fire brigade . In most countries however , civil defense is a government - managed , volunteer - staffed organisation , separate from the fire brigade and the ambulance service . As the threat of Cold War eased , a number of such civil defense organisations have been disbanded or mothballed ( as in the case of the Royal Observer Corps in the United Kingdom and the United States civil defense ) , while others have changed their focuses into providing rescue services after natural disasters ( as for the State Emergency Service in Australia ) . However the ideals of Civil Defense have been brought back in the United States under FEMA ' s Citizen Corps and Community Emergency Response Team ( CERT ) . In the United Kingdom the roles carried out by Civil Defence fall to voluntary groups such as RAYNET , Search and Rescue Teams and 4x4 Response . In Ireland , the Civil Defence is still very much an active organisation and is occasionally called upon for its Auxiliary Fire Service and ambulance / rescue services when emergencies such as flash flooding occur and require additional manpower . The organisation has units of trained firemen and medical responders based in key areas around the country . By country . UK : US : See also . General :