Abstract

Our Stupid Civil Defense. Playing Politics with National Survival

Critics ranging from sincere pacifists to cynical professional debunkers have managed to prove a good many things about atomic weapons and civil defense; much of what they have "proved" is mutually contradictory. The problem itself can be put in simple terms. Assuming an explosion or a deadly radiation or both, there are only two things to be done: either you put something tangible between you and the source of trouble, or you put distance there instead. Assuming an attack on San Francisco, where the article author lives, and where he received a pamphlet containing an evacuation plan for the city in case of an armed attack, from San Francisco Disaster Council and Corps, there would be a number of variables depending on the size and makeup of the bomb, where it fell, the height of the bomb at the moment of explosion, etc.