Thanks for dropping in. This website has gone through several itinerations the last few years, but is heading in a VERY specific direction now. I think you’ll like where we’re headed.
The Civil Defense Now Foundation is a new organization, dedicated to bringing back to the citizens of the United States a system of self-help based self sufficiency, for dealing with natural, technological, and man-made disasters. It is not to replace the current system of mitigation, response, and recovery…only to recreate in current technology all the past research, science, and proven training that once existed in this great nation.
Civil Defense Now exists to provide to each and every American who wants to participate, the ability to assist others as well as help themselves, the next time that a major disaster or natural catastrophe occurs on US soil, so that no one has to wait for food, water, shelter, communication, or transportation to STAY ALIVE, and actually come out of any threats much for the better. It’s about community…about self reliance…and about helping each other out of bad events, and living to see a better tomorrow.
As founder, developer, administrator and designer of SurvivalRing.org, I’ve had a dream for a very long time…to bring back to the eyes and ears of government the NEED for a national civilian based proactive system of training and resources for every man, woman and child in skills of self reliance, disaster and emergency response, first aid and rescue skills, and maintaining self sufficiency when nature, or man, is on the rampage.
In the 1950′s and 60′s there was an attempt to create a nationwide system of shelters, food and medicine storage, and more, across the United States. In the late 1960′s, the effort was put to the back burners, and then forgotten, as funding planned for the Civil Defense system, was taken away and applied to such things as the space race, the Viet Nam war, and other non-civilian based areas.
However, other nations, including Russia (the Soviet Union overall), China, and many of our former (and even current) enemies kept building up their civil defense programs, and can currently shelter the majority of their populations in the worst of conditions, up to and including all out thermonuclear war.
As the events of the September 2005 have shown, this nation, when faced with two horrificly huge hurricanes, failed to protect the population in timely and successful manners. Over 1100 people perished in Katrina and Rita, and the death toll is still rising. The remnants of Rita are still crossing the nation as I type this, and while Texas was more successful in moving people from threat, MANY problems in getting the evacuation process started could have handled much better.
Crisis relocation was the plan AFTER the shelter system idea was thrown out in the US civil defense planning. As we’ve seen first hand during the events of this time period, crisis relocation doesn’t work.
What would happen in a terrorist nuke event? Or a short term, short notice threat such as a west coast tsunami that matched the magnitude of the 2004 Sumatra event that killed 250,000? Or, more and larger hurricane events like Katrina or Rita in larger population areas?
As a nation, the United States leads the world in technology. But, it fails in taking care of its citizens, which is the SINGLE reason for the EXISTANCE of a federal government.
The communications systems for emergency notice are still not defined, standardized, built, and IN PLACE.
The evacuation systems created by state and municipal entities for short notice disasters (Katrina- 5 days) are faulty and full of unproven concept, as well as mandatory TRAINING to make the plans work.
The transportation systems for affected areas is NOT utilized in all out planning for saving the greatest number of people who CAN NOT help themselves (Katrina, and the tens of thousands left to walk, swim, or die in the flooding of greater New Orleans, as well as the sick and infirm who were left to die in their beds as waters rose and drowned them). See the image of hundreds school buses sitting in their parking area…unmoved…and in several feet of water.
The manpower system is a bit better off. While FEMA is going to suffer reorganization from the failures of Katrina, the fact that it was absorbed by Homeland Security was the cause for its failures. ANY nation needs a cabinet level office to deal with disaster planning, resource management, and technological innovation.
As Katrina showed, the ability of a nation to respond to a catatrophe with volunteers, funds, equipment, and supplies, actually overwhelmed the capacity of the local recovery teams to handle the influx of support. FEMA was actually turning back volunteers with truckloads of supplies, food, clothing, and more.
Police and firemen who left small towns across the nation to offer their skilled assistance in the response and recovery, as well as rescue efforts of victims, were told to go home. Rescuers with their own boats, gas, survival supplies, and skills, where told to not even come, or worse, to go back home, when they arrived in the affected areas of Louisiana.
The federal and state use of the National Guard, Special Operations teams (including snipers who were taking out the criminals one by one in the early days of total anarchy and looting), the Black Water group, and even the aircraft carrier Iwo Jima, showed a lopsided approach, from one that should have AVOIDED the problems, to one that was RESPONSE to an out of control event that destroyed one of the nations oldest cities. The threat of martial law was literally waiting to be put into place.
This is NOT how a nation deals with a NATURAL disaster. For those in power that made the decisions that let these events unfold as they did, the will of the people should remove these people from office, and change the laws and regulations that allow such things to happen.
When FEMA replaced the Civil Defense program, as mandated by presidential decree, it changed its focus from external threat (attack or invasion) to an all-hazards approach which then included natural disaster planning and mitigation. In FEMA, worry and concern about nuclear threats started to disappear in the very early nineties, and disappeared all together after the 1991 publication ARE YOU READY?. The 1993 edition of this title contained no reference to fallout shelter, nuclear attack, or similar areas…only a couple of pages of reference for those who might live near a nuclear power facility.
Granted, there have been no nuclear attacks, terrorist nukes, or any radialogicial events on US soil since 3 Mile Island. But, ever since the events of September 11th, 2001, the leaders of this nation have stated OVER and OVER again, that the biggest threat to the safety of every citizen of this nation is a TERRORIST NUKE. Yet, even since this event, the government has NOT produced one iota of information for the average citizen, about HOW TO MAKE A FALLOUT SHELTER, where to find one, what one is, how it works, or ANYTHING.
The US government produced hundreds of thousands of pages of plans, technical specs, regulations, operations, management and training for government employees, local governments, the military, and YES, even the average citizen, from the mid 1950′s until around 1990. As of the mid 1990′s, you could STILL get original copies of the FEMA fallout shelter plans directly from the FEMA Publications Office. You could even get maps, showing the entire nation, as well as each states, potential target areas of nuclear attack from external threat. This information was available in the publication RISKS AND HAZARDS STATE BY STATE (which you will find on my SurvivalRing website, scanned in its entirety, in full color).
Why won’t the government crank up the printing presses and open up the archives, and MAKE THIS INFORMATION available AGAIN?
The science has not changed. Nuclear Weapons are still based on atomic science. All that has changed is increased efficiency of detonation, greatly increased targeting using GPS technology, and much more powerful weapons in much smaller packages.
The effects of IONIZING radiation on the human biological system have NOT changed.
The ability of a fallout shelter to do its job in real nuclear fallout scenarios are even better, with communications of the path of threat, the ability to get shielding material beforehand, and many vendors nationwide producing prefab, truck transportable fallout shelters all across the nation.
The threats have changed, only to the degree that INDIVIDUALS and GROUPS, such as Al QEADA, can get their hands on nuclear materials and hide it in plain site, or get it to their preferred target to kill many innocent people, in their evil and misguided personal Jihads.
So, what STILL has to change?
The entire system of citizen preparedness.
The requirement of training of EVERY individual during their educational years, and/or in their employment, to LEARN first aid, sheltering concepts, disaster response, and basic rescues techniques.
A complete and across the board reconstruction of a NATIONAL SHELTER PROGRAM.
A tax rebate system that awards training, shelter owners, shelter builders, and volunteers EVERY YEAR.
A tax system that REQUIRES any industry that deals in hazardous materials, waste, construction, or by products, to pay for training, mitigation, equipment, and recovery, when events happen that threaten the lives of US citizens.
A warning system that WORKS, with every radio, tv, computer, cell phone, stereo, and any other audio/visual system in use or planned, so that awareness of events in INSTANTANEOUS.
These ideas are just a start. A return to a National Civil Defense Program, that includes all-hazards, regional and national training for localized hazards, skills building for every adult, and training for every school age child .
The goal is CIVIL DEFENSE NOW.
Not later…not after more catastrophic natural disasters….or the deaths of tens, or hundreds of thousands, of innocent victims.
NOW.
Will you help?
Funding, volunteers, calling trees, letter writing campaigns, and much more are needed. A national campaign to meet, greet, and inform EVERY congressman, every senator, every governor, every mayor, and each and every leader of this nation, to SHOW THEM THE WAY, must be created, manned, and marched forward.
This website exists to be the foundation of this effort.
Personally, I’ve already put tens of thousands of pages of original, authentic, and government produced survival and preparedness materials back into circulation, and have the largest online library of FALLOUT SHELTER information on the web. I’ve got much more to do, and much more to share in that area.
I ask you to take a moment to consider the above. If you can help financially, any amount will do. If you can help with time, any amount of time will help. If you can become a force in this initiative, PLEASE contact me with your skills and ideas
The Civil Defense Now project exists to SAVE lives, not take them. It is purely preparedness oriented, and not to take away from ANY source…only to add to them.
I look forward to your comments, suggestions, and feedback. Use the contact link, the comments link, or email me.
Thank you.
Rich Fleetwood
Founder – The Civil Defense Now Foundation
www.civildefensenow.org
.
