THE CIVILIAN DEFENSE MISSION

One of the first steps taken by Hon. Fiorello H. La Guardia as Director of the Ofiice of Civilian Defense, after that office had been set up, was to request specifically that the War Department provide for the training of ten successive classes of civilians to be selected by his office. The Secretary of War approved La Guardia s request to set up schools for the training of civilians, and on 21 May 1941 directed the activation of the first of these schools.  

This document was duly prepared in the Office of the Chief, CWS, with the assistance of other branches. It was approved by the War Department and was reproduced by multilith process at the Chemical Warfare School in 1936 under the title. Passive Defense Against Air Attack Only 200 numbered copies, bound in red covers and classified secret, were published. By War Department direction, copies of this 43-page pamphlet were transmitted to each corps area commander and to overseas departments where they were filed for use when needed. 

In reviewing the WPD study after it had been referred to the Chemical Warfare Service for comment. General Baker recommended particularly that the development of civilian instructors and the specialized training of selected civilians be undertaken by the War Department. This proved to be the precise direction in which extensive training activities of the CWS were to tend less than two years later. 

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The mission of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is to regulate the nation s civilian use of by-product, source, and special nuclear materials to ensure adequate protection of public health and safety, to promote the common defense and security, and to protect the environment. 

Research and development sponsorship has produced and accumulated, particularly within the Military Departments, a vast amount of new technology. This technology has served the defense establishment well in its mission to develop and acquire the weapons systems and materiel necessary for the defense of the nation. Large defense and aerospace contractors have transferred aircraft, air control and safety, computer and similar technology from the military sector to the civilian sector. 

These special directions added to the original terms of reference broadened the scope of the study to include not just deep-ocean and littoral operations but also any credible part of naval operations at risk for terrorist attacks. Although this study was initiated after September 11, 2001, it should be noted that the committee did not expand its charter to consider the roles for the Navy in homeland defense, with the exception of the ties of its continental United States (CONUS) force protection mission requirements in relation to U.S. naval bases neighboring civilian communities. 

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