Remembering and Planning for Civil Defense

Previously I wrote about how I think there will be a coming return to civil defense. It won’t be called that, but it will come, disguised as homeland security.

The old version of civil defense included evacuation planning, civil defense shelters and supplies, and then also the distribution of radiation detection equipment.

See this article from the Seattle Times that recalls those days and what they encompassed: “Washington stopped planning for a nuclear war in 1984. Should we start now?”

I actually lived through all of that era, first as a military planner and operations officer. Following that, I joined Washington state Emergency Management in 1991 and was involved in shutting down the civil defense program that had existed in the state.

Since it appears that nothing is ever new, civil defense will be coming back with a new face, new requirements and new deliverables. Watch and see.