Command Study 14, Chapter 1. The Role of Nonmilitary Defense Page: 28
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Automobiles and trucks would be needed to move survivors; waterways, less
vulnerable to the effects of nuclear fallout, would provide emergency avenues
of support; air transport, committed largely to emergency military use, would
be invaluable for flying medical and other supplies into disaster areas. As in
the past, railroads would be necessary for carrying the heavier burdens.
The Department of Commerce, the Federal Aviation Agency, and the Inter-
state Commerce Commission have developed, and are constantly improving,
standby measures for transportation which would go into effect automatically
if the United States were attacked. The heart of these measures involves
priorities for the most urgent traffic and restriction of all but the most essential
movement of freight and personnel. Each of the transportation resource areas--
rail, bus, truck, air, and shipping- -is complex in its own right. But the im-
mense magnitude of this planning job can only be appreciated when one considers
the complexity of interrelationships among the various systems, the inter-
dependence and difficulty of execution through Federal, State, and local systems,
and the need for standby organization with predesignated staffs ready for
instant and automatic response.
In order for the United States to carry on as a nation after a nuclear attack,
the national preparedness program must assure that the govermental establish-
ment itself survives as an operating entity. For the Federal Government, this
requires emergency relocation sites situated in an arc around Washington where
essential records and papers can be stored to enable Federal agencies to con-
tinue essential operations in a wartime emergency. These sites are also tied
into a secure interagency communications system which uses television, radio,
teletype, and telephone to permit emergency contact in the event of war. Emer-
gency responsibilities have been assigned throughout the Federal network, with
its 7, 000 field and regional offices to insure that States and communities would
not be required to exist indefinitely without assistance from the national Govern-
ment at Washington.
In the final analysis, however, State and local communities must institute
post-attack recovery and management capabilities and enlarge emergency plan-
ning concepts to sustain continuity of civil authority independently of Federal
guidance, if necessary. Admittedly, these are broad, complex, and demand-
ing objectives for local authorities to undertake and their achievement no doubt
will provide vigorous challenges to individual skill and ingenuity. Because of
the very nature of American society, it is virtually impossible for representa-
tives of the Federal Government to provide detailed and comprehensive guidance
to each and every locality in the nation, since economies differ, the social fab-
ric varies, and the degree and type of industrialization is not the same in any
two areas. For this reason, national plans for post-attack recovery assume
that emergency preparedness includes the mobilization of State and local re-
sources along lines similar to the Federal Government. Accordingly, officials
in the Office of Emergency Planning cite four immediate objectives which States
must prepare to accomplish during the recovery period.
* Allocation and control of production, distribution, and use of essential
resources such as food, medical supplies, petroleum, electric power,
and other vital materials.
" Management and provision of essential transportation and communi-
cation services.28
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Air University (U.S.). Command Study 14, Chapter 1. The Role of Nonmilitary Defense, pamphlet, June 1965; Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1010302/m1/38/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.