Editing Civil defense (section)

== History ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Joan Baez]] -->
<!--Use British spelling please -->

=== Origins ===

==== United Kingdom ====
[[File:It is far better to face the bullets.jpg|thumb|right|upright|British [[First World War]] poster, bringing attention to the threat posed by aerial bombardment from German [[Zeppelin]]s]]
The advent of civil defense was stimulated by the experience of the bombing of civilian areas during the [[First World War]]. The [[German strategic bombing during World War I|bombing of the United Kingdom]] began on 19 January 1915 when German [[zeppelin]]s dropped bombs on the [[Great Yarmouth]] area, killing six people. [[Germany|German]] bombing operations of the First World War were surprisingly effective, especially after the [[Gotha G|Gotha]] bombers surpassed the zeppelins. The most devastating raids inflicted 121 casualties for each [[ton]] of bombs dropped; this figure was then used as a basis for predictions.

After the war, attention was turned toward civil defense in the event of war, and the [[Air Raid Precautions]] Committee (ARP) was established in 1924 to investigate ways for ensuring the protection of civilians from the danger of [[Aerial bombing of cities#European theatre|air-raids]].

The Committee produced figures estimating that in [[London]] there would be 9,000 casualties in the first two days and then a continuing rate of 17,500 casualties a week. These rates were thought conservative. It was believed that there would be "total chaos and panic" and hysterical neurosis as the people of London would try to flee the city. To control the population harsh measures were proposed: bringing London under almost military control, and physically cordoning off the city with 120,000 troops to force people back to work. A different government department proposed setting up camps for [[refugee]]s for a few days before sending them back to London.

A special government department, the [[Civil Defence Service]], was established by the [[Home Office]] in 1935. Its remit included the pre-existing ARP as well as wardens, firemen (initially the [[Auxiliary Fire Service]] (AFS) and latterly the [[National Fire Service]] (NFS)), fire watchers, rescue, first aid post, stretcher party and industry. Over 1.9 million people served within the CD; nearly 2,400 died from enemy action.

[[File:StateLibQld 1 102384 Air Raid Warden testing new equipment in Brisbane, October 1942.jpg|thumb|left|[[Air Raid Precautions|Air Raid Warden]] testing his equipment in [[Brisbane]], Australia, in October 1942]]
The organization of civil defense was the responsibility of the local authority. Volunteers were ascribed to different units depending on experience or training. Each local civil defense service was divided into several sections. Wardens were responsible for local [[reconnaissance]] and reporting, and leadership, organization, guidance and control of the general public. Wardens would also advise survivors of the locations of rest and food centers, and other welfare facilities.

Rescue Parties were required to assess and then access bombed-out buildings and retrieve injured or dead people. In addition they would turn off [[fuel gas|gas]], [[electricity]] and [[water supply|water supplies]], and repair or pull down unsteady buildings. Medical services, including [[First Aid]] Parties, provided on the spot medical assistance.

The expected stream of information that would be generated during an attack was handled by 'Report and Control' teams. A local [[headquarter]]s would have an ARP controller who would direct rescue, first aid and [[decontamination]] teams to the scenes of reported bombing. If local services were deemed insufficient to deal with the incident then the controller could request assistance from surrounding [[borough]]s.

Fire Guards were responsible for a designated area/building and required to monitor the fall of [[incendiary bomb]]s and pass on news of any fires that had broken out to the NFS. They could deal with an individual [[Elektron (alloy)|magnesium alloy ("Elektron") incendiary bomb]] by dousing it with buckets of sand or water or by smothering. Additionally, 'Gas Decontamination Teams' kitted out with gas-tight and [[waterproof]] [[protective clothing]] were to deal with any [[gas attack]]s. They were trained to decontaminate buildings, roads, rail and other material that had been contaminated by liquid or jelly gases.

[[File:The Home Front in Britain during the Second World War HU36196.jpg|thumb|[[Anderson shelter]]s were widely distributed in the United Kingdom by civil defense authorities, in preparation for aerial bombardment.]]
Little progress was made over the issue of [[air-raid shelter]]s, because of the apparently irreconcilable conflict between the need to send the public underground for shelter and the need to keep them above ground for protection against gas attacks. In February 1936 the [[Home Secretary]] appointed a technical Committee on Structural Precautions against Air Attack. During the [[Munich crisis]], local authorities dug trenches to provide shelter. After the crisis, the British Government decided to make these a permanent feature, with a standard design of precast concrete trench lining. They also decided to issue the [[Anderson shelter]] free to poorer households and to provide steel props to create shelters in suitable basements.<ref>{{Citation|last=Baker|first=Lord John |author-link=John Baker, Baron Baker |year=1978 |title=Enterprise vs Bureaucracy – The Development of Structural Air Raid Precautions during the 2nd World War |publisher=Pergamon Press}}</ref>

During the [[Second World War]], the ARP was responsible for the issuing of [[WWII gas mask|gas mask]]s, pre-fabricated [[air-raid shelter]]s (such as [[Anderson shelter]]s, as well as [[Morrison shelter]]s), the upkeep of local public shelters, and the maintenance of the [[blackout (wartime)|blackout]]. The ARP also helped rescue people after air raids and other attacks, and some women became ARP Ambulance Attendants whose job was to help administer first aid to casualties, search for survivors, and in many grim instances, help recover bodies, sometimes those of their own colleagues.
[[File:JerusalemFW1940.jpg|thumb|Jewish Civil Defense group in [[Jerusalem]] in 1942. The group served as ARP Fire Wardens, equipped with water hoses and buckets, some wearing FW (Fire Watcher) [[Brodie helmet]]s. Men are in uniform while women wear plain clothes. Composer [[Josef Tal]] stands next to the woman with a black sweater.]]

As the war progressed, the military effectiveness of Germany's aerial bombardment was very limited. Thanks to the Luftwaffe's shifting aims, the strength of British air defenses, the use of early warning radar in combination with the [[Royal Observer Corps]], and the life-saving actions of local civil defense units, the aerial "Blitz" during the [[Battle of Britain]] failed to break the morale of the British people, destroy the [[Royal Air Force]] or significantly hinder British industrial production.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Britain-European-history-1940|title=Battle of Britain {{!}} European history [1940]|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2018-10-07|language=en}}</ref> Despite a significant investment in civil and military defense, British civilian losses during the Blitz were higher than in most strategic bombing campaigns throughout the war. For example, there were 14,000-20,000 UK civilian fatalities during the Battle of Britain,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Warfare and armed conflicts : a statistical encyclopedia of casualty and other figures, 1492–2015|last=Clodfelter|first=Micheal|isbn=978-0-7864-7470-7|edition= Fourth|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|oclc=959922692|date = 2017-05-09}}</ref> a relatively high number considering that the [[Luftwaffe]] dropped only an estimated 30,000 tons of ordinance during the battle.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-33861431|title=How dangerous are unexploded bombs?|last=Leatherdale|first=Duncan|date=2015-08-11|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-10-07|language=en-GB}}</ref> Granted, this resulting 0.47-0.67 civilian fatalities per ton of bombs dropped was lower than the earlier 121 casualties per ton prediction. However, in comparison, Allied [[Strategic bombing during World War II|strategic bombing of Germany]] during the war proved slightly less lethal than what was observed in the UK,{{dubious|date=April 2024}} with an estimated 400,000-600,000 German civilian fatalities for approximately 1.35 million tons of bombs dropped on Germany,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/seventy-years-world-war-two-thousands-tons-unexploded-bombs-germany-180957680/|title=There Are Still Thousands of Tons of Unexploded Bombs in Germany, Left Over From World War II|last=Higginbotham|first=Adam|work=Smithsonian|access-date=2018-10-07|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/history/research/centres/warstateandsociety/projects/bombing/germany/|title=University of Exeter|last=Robinson|first=Debbie|website=humanities.exeter.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-10-07|archive-date=2018-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007183642/https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/history/research/centres/warstateandsociety/projects/bombing/germany/|url-status=dead}}</ref> an estimated resulting rate therefore of 0.30-0.44 civilian fatalities per ton of bombs dropped.

==== United States ====
{{Main|United States civil defense}}
In the [[United States]], the [[Office of Civilian Defense]] was established in May 1941 to coordinate civilian defense efforts. It coordinated with the [[Department of the Army]] and established similar groups to the British ARP. One of these groups that still exists today is the [[Civil Air Patrol]], which was originally created as a civilian auxiliary to the [[US Army|Army]]. The CAP was created on December 1, 1941, with the main civil defense mission of search and rescue. The CAP also sank two Axis submarines and provided aerial reconnaissance for Allied and neutral merchant ships.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/about|title=History of Civil Air Patrol – Civil Air Patrol – United States Air Force Auxiliary}}</ref> In 1946, the Civil Air Patrol was barred from combat by [[Public Law 79-476]]. The CAP then received its current mission: search and rescue for downed aircraft. When the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] was created, in 1947, the Civil Air Patrol became the auxiliary of the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]].<ref>Texas Wing Civil Air Patrol 2014 Summer Encampment Standard Operating Instructions (SOI)</ref>

The [[Coast Guard Auxiliary]] performs a similar role in support of the [[United States Coast Guard|U.S. Coast Guard]].<ref>{{cite web |date=2016-05-14 |title=About the Coast Guard Auxiliary and District 11 Southern Region |url= http://www.d11s.org/modules/narrative.mod.php?story=ABOUT |work=United States Coast Guard Auxiliary -District 11 Southern Region |access-date= 2016-08-19}}</ref> Like the Civil Air Patrol, the Coast Guard Auxiliary was established in the run up to World War II. Auxiliarists were sometimes armed during the war, and extensively participated in port security operations. After the war, the Auxiliary shifted its focus to promoting boating safety and assisting the Coast Guard in performing search and rescue and marine safety and environmental protection.

In the United States a federal civil defense program existed under Public Law 920 of the 81st Congress,<ref name="PresidentRegister1958">{{cite book|author1=United States. President|author2=United States. Office of the Federal Register|title=Code of federal regulations: President|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7hMuAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA752|year=1958|publisher=Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration|pages=752–}}</ref> as amended, from 1951 to 1994. That statutory scheme was made so-called all-hazards by Public Law 103–160 in 1993 and largely repealed by Public Law 103–337 in 1994.<ref name="Nuclear Regulatory Commission2009">{{cite book|author=Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U S )|title=Nuclear Regulatory Legislation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGfBYCVSlmMC&pg=PA52|date=July 2009|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=978-0-16-083614-5|pages=52–}}</ref> Parts now appear in Title VI of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Public Law 100-107 [1988 as amended].<ref name="Congress2009">{{cite book|author=Congress|title=United States Code, 2006, Supplement 1, January 4, 2007 to January 8, 2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-D35f9c0aUC&pg=PA137|date=October 2009|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=978-0-16-083512-4|pages=137–}}</ref> The term EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS was largely codified by that repeal and amendment. See 42 USC Sections 5101 and following.<ref name="Congress2009" />

=== Post–World War II ===
{{See also|Leon Gouré}}

[[File:falloutprotection.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Civil Defense literature, such as ''Fallout Protection'', was common during the [[Cold War]] era.]]
In most of the states of the [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]], such as the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]] and [[West Germany]], as well as the [[Soviet Bloc]], and especially in the neutral countries, such as [[Switzerland]] and in [[Sweden]] during the 1950s and 1960s, many civil defense practices took place to prepare for the aftermath of a [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]], which seemed quite likely at that time.<ref>{{cite journal |last=McReynolds |first=David |title=Ralph DiGia, 1914–2008 |journal=The Catholic Worker |year=2008 |volume=LXXV |issue=March–April |pages=6}}</ref>

In the '''United Kingdom''', the [[Civil Defence Service]] was disbanded in 1945, followed by the ARP in 1946. With the onset of the growing [[Cold War|tensions between East and West]], the service was revived in 1949 as the [[Civil Defence Corps]]. As a civilian volunteer organization, it was tasked to take control in the aftermath of a major national emergency, principally envisaged as being a Cold War [[nuclear warfare|nuclear attack]]. Although under the authority of the [[Home Office]], with a centralized administrative establishment, the corps was administered locally by Corps Authorities. In general every [[counties of the United Kingdom|county]] was a Corps Authority, as were most [[county borough]]s in [[England and Wales]] and large [[burgh]]s in [[Scotland]].

Each division was divided into several sections, including the Headquarters, Intelligence and Operations, Scientific and Reconnaissance, Warden & Rescue, Ambulance and First Aid and Welfare.

In 1954 [[Coventry City Council]] caused international controversy when it announced plans to disband its Civil Defence committee because the councillors had decided that hydrogen bombs meant that there could be no recovery from a nuclear attack. The British government opposed such a move and held a provocative Civil Defence exercise on the streets of Coventry which Labour council members protested against.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barnett |first=Nicholas |date=2015-07-03 |title='No protection against the H-bomb': press and popular reactions to the Coventry civil defence controversy, 1954 |journal=Cold War History |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=277–300 |doi=10.1080/14682745.2014.968558 |hdl=10026.1/9392 |s2cid=154550156 |issn=1468-2745|url=http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/51770/3/Revision%2520-%2520CWH%2520-%2520Coventry%2520Civil%2520Defence%2520Controversy%2520manuscript-3.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200306090815/http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/51770/3/Revision%2520-%2520CWH%2520-%2520Coventry%2520Civil%2520Defence%2520Controversy%2520manuscript-3.pdf |archive-date=2020-03-06 |url-status=live }}</ref> The government also decided to implement its own committee at the city's cost until the council reinstituted its committee.

In the '''United States''', the sheer power of [[nuclear weapon]]s and the perceived likelihood of such an attack precipitated a greater response than had yet been required of civil defense. Civil defense,  previously considered an important and commonsense step, became divisive and controversial in the charged atmosphere of the [[Cold War]]. In 1950, the [[National Security Resources Board]] created a 162-page document outlining a model civil defense structure for the U.S.  Called the "Blue Book" by civil defense professionals in reference to its solid blue cover, it was the template for legislation and organization for the next 40 years.<ref>National Security Resources Board. United States Civil Defense. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), 1950. LCCN 51060552.</ref>

[[File:SurvivalUnderAtomicAttack.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Civil Defense literature, such as [[Survival Under Atomic Attack]], was common during the Cold War Era.]]
Perhaps the most memorable aspect of the Cold War civil defense effort was the educational effort made or promoted by the government.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Scheibach|editor1-first=Michael|title="In Case Atom Bombs Fall": An Anthology of Governmental Explanations, Instructions and Warnings from the 1940s to the 1960s|date=2009|publisher=McFarland & Company|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-0-7864-4541-7}}</ref>  In ''[[Duck and Cover (film)|Duck and Cover]]'', [[Bert the Turtle]] advocated that children "[[duck and cover]]" when they "see the [[nuclear fireball|flash]]."  Booklets such as ''[[Survival Under Atomic Attack]]'', ''[[Fallout Protection]]'' and ''[[Nuclear War Survival Skills]]'' were also commonplace. The transcribed radio program [[Stars for Defense]] combined hit music with civil defense advice. Government institutes created [[public service announcements]] including children's songs and distributed them to radio stations to educate the public in case of nuclear attack.
[[File:US and USSR nuclear stockpiles.svg|thumb|The United States and [[Soviet Union]]/Russia nuclear stockpiles, in [[Historical nuclear weapons stockpiles and nuclear tests by country|total number of nuclear bombs/warheads in existence]] throughout the [[Cold War]] and post-Cold War era. However, total ''deployed'' US & "Russian"  strategic weapons (ready for use) were far less than this, reaching a maximum of about 10,000 apiece in the 1980s.<ref>[http://krepon.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/3524/worth-the-wait Hans M. Kristensen 2012, "Estimated US-Russian Nuclear Warhead Inventories 1977–2018.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112224012/http://krepon.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/3524/worth-the-wait |date=2015-01-12 }}"</ref>]]
The US [[President Kennedy]] (1961–63) launched an ambitious effort to install fallout shelters throughout the United States.  These shelters would not protect against the blast and heat effects of nuclear weapons, but would provide some protection against the radiation effects that would last for weeks and even affect areas distant from a nuclear explosion. In order for most of these preparations to be effective, there had to be some degree of warning. In 1951, [[CONELRAD]] (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) was established. Under the system, a few primary stations would be alerted of an emergency and would broadcast an alert.  All broadcast stations throughout the country would be constantly listening to an upstream station and repeat the message, thus passing it from station to station.

In a once classified US [[Military simulation|war game]] analysis, looking at varying levels of war escalation, warning and pre-emptive attacks in the late 1950s early 1960s, it was estimated that approximately 27 million US citizens would have been saved with civil defense education.<ref name="nsarchive.gwu.edu">{{cite web| url = http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb480/docs/doc%2010A%201963.pdf| title = Net Evaluation Subcommittee. page 27}}</ref> At the time, however, the cost of a full-scale civil defense program was regarded as less effective in [[cost-benefit analysis]] than a [[ballistic missile defense]] ([[Nike Zeus]]) system, and as the Soviet adversary was increasing their [[nuclear stockpile]], the [[efficacy]] of both would follow a [[diminishing returns]] trend.<ref name="nsarchive.gwu.edu" />

Contrary to the largely noncommittal approach taken in [[NATO]], with its stops and starts in civil defense depending on the whims of each newly elected government, the military strategy in the comparatively more ideologically consistent [[USSR]] held that, amongst other things, a winnable nuclear war was possible.<ref name=Pipes>{{cite web |url=http://people.reed.edu/~ahm/Courses/Reed-POL-422-2012-S1_NP/Syllabus/EReadings/05.2/05.2.Pipes1977Why-the-Soviet-Union.pdf |title=Why the Soviet Union Thinks It Could Fight and Win a Nuclear War |author=Richard Pipes |publisher=Commentary [[Reed College]] |year=1977 |access-date=September 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214024826/http://people.reed.edu/~ahm/Courses/Reed-POL-422-2012-S1_NP/Syllabus/EReadings/05.2/05.2.Pipes1977Why-the-Soviet-Union.pdf |archive-date=December 14, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/63015546/Why-Russia-Thinks-It-Could-Fight-and-Win-a-Nuclear-War |title=Why the Soviet Union thinks it can fight and win a Nuclear War |author=Richard Pipes |magazine=Commentary |year=1977 |access-date=April 21, 2013}}</ref><ref name="gwu.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv//nukevault/ebb285 |title=Previously Classified Interviews with Former Soviet Officials Reveal U.S. Strategic Intelligence Failure Over Decades |editor1-last=Burr |editor1-first=William |editor2-last=Savranskaya |editor2-first=Svetlana |date=September 11, 2009 |location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |access-date=April 21, 2013}}</ref> To this effect the [[Soviet]]s planned to minimize, as far as possible, the effects of nuclear weapon strikes on its territory, and therefore spent considerably more thought on civil defense preparations than in U.S., with defense plans that have been assessed to be far more effective than those in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1977/mar-apr/dorough.html |title=Soviet Civil Defense U.S.S.R. preparations for industrial-base war survival. | author=Captain John W. Dorough Jr. |publisher=Air University Review, March–April 1977 |access-date=September 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217102003/http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1977/mar-apr/dorough.html |archive-date=December 17, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url= http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/30948/john-c-campbell/war-survival-in-soviet-strategy-ussr-civil-defense |title=War Survival in Soviet Strategy: USSR Civil Defense |magazine=[[Foreign Affairs]] |author=Leon Gouré Reviewed by John C. Campbell |year=1977}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://people.reed.edu/~ahm/Courses/Reed-POL-422-2012-S1_NP/Syllabus/EReadings/05.2/05.2.Pipes1977Why-the-Soviet-Union.pdf |title=Why the Soviet Union Thinks It Could Fight and Win a Nuclear War |author=Richard Pipes |publisher=Commentary[[Reed College]] |year=1977 |access-date=September 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214024826/http://people.reed.edu/~ahm/Courses/Reed-POL-422-2012-S1_NP/Syllabus/EReadings/05.2/05.2.Pipes1977Why-the-Soviet-Union.pdf |archive-date=December 14, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[Was There a Real "Mineshaft Gap"? Bomb Shelters in the USSR, 1945–1962 Edward Geist doi.org/10.1162/JCWS_a_00219]</ref>

Soviet Civil Defense Troops played the main role in the massive disaster relief operation following the [[Chernobyl accident|1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident]]. Defense Troop [[reservists]] were officially [[mobilization|mobilized]] (as in a case of war) from throughout the USSR to join the Chernobyl task force and formed on the basis of the [[Kyiv]] Civil Defense Brigade. The task force performed some high-risk tasks including, with the failure of their robotic machinery, the manual removal of highly-[[radioactivity|radioactive]] debris. Many of their personnel were later [[Liquidator (Chernobyl)|decorated with medals for their work at containing the release of radiation into the environment]], with a number{{quantify|date=August 2015}} of [[Deaths due to the Chernobyl disaster|the 56 deaths from the accident]] being Civil defense troops.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/chernobyl| title = Chernobyl: Disaster, Response & Fallout - HISTORY| date = 23 April 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Swiss Civil Defense Bunker (15710856390).jpg|thumb|The reinforced door of a [[fallout shelter]] of the civil protection in [[Switzerland]]. As of 2006, there were about 300,000 shelters in private and public buildings for a total of 8.6 million places, a level of coverage corresponding to 114% of the Swiss population.<ref name=SWI>{{in lang|fr}} Daniele Mariani, [http://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/a-chacun-son-bunker/7485678 "À chacun son bunker"], [[Swissinfo]], 23 October 2009 (page visited on 5 August 2015).</ref>]]

In Western countries, strong civil defense policies were never properly implemented, because it was fundamentally at odds with the doctrine of "[[mutual assured destruction]]" (MAD) by making provisions for survivors.{{dubious|date=December 2013}} It was also considered that a full-fledged total defense would have not been worth the very large expense. For whatever reason, the public saw efforts at civil defense as fundamentally ineffective against the powerful destructive forces of nuclear weapons, and therefore a waste of time and money, although detailed scientific research programs did underlie the much-mocked government civil defense pamphlets of the 1950s and 1960s.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-for-the-history-of-science/article/div-classtitlearchitects-of-armageddon-the-home-office-scientific-advisersandapos-branch-and-civil-defence-in-britain-194568a-hreffn01a-ref-typefnadiv/3AC9DA1E8F67CE3D0DE1726648F46884|title=Architects of Armageddon: the Home Office Scientific Advisers' Branch and civil defence in Britain, 1945–68†|journal=The British Journal for the History of Science|first=Melissa|last=Smith|date=1 June 2010|volume=43|issue=2|pages=149–180|via=Cambridge Core|doi=10.1017/S0007087409990392|s2cid=145729137}}</ref>

The [[Civil Defence Corps]] was stood down in Great Britain in 1968 due to the financial crisis of the mid-1960s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-civil-defence/heag145-civil-defence-iha/ |title=Civil Defence: From the First World War to the Cold War |last=Thomas |first=Roger J.C. |date=October 2016 |publisher=Historic England |access-date=2021-04-01 |quote=Recruitment continued well into the 1960s, until the financial crisis of the mid 1960s resulted in the standing-down of the Civil Defence Corps in 1968.}}</ref><!-- N.B.: which crisis is this? The list of recessions in the UK has no recessions then other than a 2-quarter one in '61. --> Its neighbors, however, remained committed to Civil Defence, namely the [[Isle of Man Civil Defence Corps]] and [[Civil Defence Ireland]] (Ireland).

In the United States, the various civil defense agencies were replaced with the [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]] (FEMA) in 1979. In 2002 this became part of the [[Department of Homeland Security]]. The focus was shifted from nuclear war to an "all-hazards" approach of [[comprehensive emergency management]]. [[Natural disaster]]s and the emergence of new threats such as [[terrorism]] have caused attention to be focused away from traditional civil defense and into new forms of civil protection such as [[emergency management]] and [[homeland security]].

=== Today ===
Many [[Civil defense by country|countries]] maintain a national Civil Defence Corps, usually having a wide brief for assisting in large scale civil emergencies such as flood, earthquake, invasion, or civil disorder.

After the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, in the United States the concept of civil defense has been revisited under the umbrella term of [[homeland security]] and all-hazards emergency management.

In [[Europe]], the triangle CD logo continues to be widely used. Created in 1939 by Charles Coiner of the N. W. Ayer Advertising Agency, it was used throughout World War II and the Cold War era. In the U.S., 2006 saw the retirement of the old triangle logo, to be replaced with a stylised ''EM'' (for [[emergency management]]). A reference to the old CD logo (without the red CD letters) can be seen above the eagle's head in the FEMA seal.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}  The name and logo continue to be used by [[Hawaii]] State Civil Defense<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scd.hawaii.gov/|title=Hawaii Emergency Management Agency|access-date=2010-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100128021011/http://www.scd.hawaii.gov/|archive-date=2010-01-28|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Guam]] Homeland Security/Office of Civil Defense.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.guamhs.org/main/ |title=Guam Homeland Security &#124; Office of Civil Defense |access-date=2010-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100204140231/http://www.guamhs.org/main/ |archive-date=2010-02-04 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> 

The term "civil protection" is currently widely used within the [[European Union]] to refer to government-approved systems and resources tasked with protecting the non-combat population, primarily in the event of natural and technological disasters. For example, the EU's humanitarian aid policy director on the Ebola Crisis, [[Florika Fink-Hooijer]], said that civil protection requires "not just more resources, but first and foremost better governance of the resources that are available including better synergies between humanitarian aid and civil protection".<ref>Fink-Hooijer, Florika (2015). ''Civil protection and humanitarian aid in the Ebola response: lessons for the humanitarian system from the EU experience''. Humanitarian Practice Network. pp. nr 64.</ref> In recent years there has been emphasis on preparedness for technological disasters resulting from terrorist attack. Within EU countries the term "crisis-management" emphasizes the political and security dimension rather than measures to satisfy the immediate needs of the population.

In Australia, civil defense is the responsibility of the volunteer-based [[State Emergency Service]]. In most former Soviet countries civil defense is the responsibility of governmental ministries, such as Russia's [[Ministry of Emergency Situations (Russia)|Ministry of Emergency Situations]].