According to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security in 2017, millions of Americans-perhaps the majority of the population-would die if the electrical grid went down for a significant period of time. Not only is this disturbing fact is well known to Congress, it is also well known to America's enemies. The United States today remains extremely vulnerable to a wide variety of man-made and natural threats, such as electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, cyber-attack, geomagnetic disturbance (GMD), terrorism, weather and many other threats. In November of 2017, the FEMA Administrator noted in his testimony to Congress that "we do not have a culture of preparedness in this country." The majority of Americans are unaware of the magnitude of the threats to the electric grid and our communities are completely unprepared. We have seen from recent disasters such as hurricanes Katrina, Maria, Harvey and Irma that communities can be on their own for a long period of time until help arrives - and these are regional disasters where massive outside resources are still available. Here is the fatal flaw of the emergency management system in the United States: it depends on our ability to bring outside resources into a disaster area. But what if the majority of the country was the disaster area? What if cities and towns across the country were on their own for a long period of time? Survival will be a local issue. The cavalry will not be coming. The real key to having prepared and resilient communities lies in the communities having a civil defense plan and being prepared for a worst-case scenario, such as a national-scale power outage. This book is about taking pre-disaster mitigation to the next level, so that your town can be ready for any disaster, large or small. It is possible for a town to survive if the grid goes down long term. But only if a few of its citizens act now. This book takes you through the steps to prepare your town for a worst-case national disaster. And in being prepared for a worst-case scenario, you and your town can be prepared for anything from a minor power outage to a hurricane to an electromagnetic pulse, solar flare or cyber-attack taking out the entire power grid. This is the Civil Defense Book!

DIVCultural history of the nuclear civil defense excercises in the US, Canada, and the UK, which emphasizes the performative aspect of the staged drills and evacuations./div

Tracing the partnership between architects and American civil defense officials during the Cold War.

Publisher Description

Millions of Americans—perhaps the majority of the population—would die if the electrical grid went down for a significant period of time. And while this disturbing fact is well-known to Congress, it is also well-known to America's enemies. Little has been done to mitigate the threat. Iran, North Korea, terrorist groups, and others move forward in their capabilities to attack the power grid, and the United States today remains extremely vulnerable. Some individual Americans, known as preppers, have taken steps to prepare their families for such a disaster, but the real key to survival lies in small communities having a civil defense plan. A prepared community has a better chance of survival than a prepared individual. This book is about taking prepping to the next level, so that your town can be ready for any disaster, large or small. It is possible for a town to survive if the grid goes down long term. But only if a few of its citizens act now.This book is different from other books on prepping and emergency preparedness. Rather than focusing on individual survival, this book takes you through the steps to create a nonprofit civil defense organization which can help prepare your town for a worst-case national disaster. And in being prepared for a worst-case scenario, you and your town can be prepared for anything from a minor power outage to a hurricane to an electromagnetic pulse attack taking out the entire power grid.

This textbook has been prepared by the Office of Civil Defense Staff College, Battle Creek, Michigan, for use as a student reference manual in the Civil Defense Management course. The chapters are keyed to corresponding sessions of the course. They are intended to summarize concisely the major concepts related to the subject area identified by the chapter title. They are not intended to be a comprehensive or exhaustive discussion of each subject. Students are urged to read the references cited at the end of each chapter for more detailed information. This textbook is for training purposes only and is not a policy guide document.