Nsc Memo on Fallout Shelters (1960)

Source: Declassified Documents Reference System. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2004.

Commentary

This once secret White House memo shows the difficulty in assessing civil defense preparedness during the Cold War era. It was declassified October 17, 1983.

July 20, 1960
MEMORANDUM FOR MR. GORDON GRAY
SUBJECT: Existing Fallout Shelters
REFERENCE: Memo for NSC from Executive Secretary, subject "U.S. Policy on Continental Defense," dated July 14, 1960

I am concerned that OCDM, during the course of developing the reference discussion paper on Continental Defense, has been unable to furnish the Planning Board with a reasonably informed and accurate estimate of the number of fallout shelters already in existence. In paragraph 51 of the discussion paper, there is found no estimate of available fallout shelter based on any OCDM studies or samplings; rather, recourse is had to a survey made by a...