-53. The Operations Offices which have not submitted operational plans for their areas were requested to do so, Aftér receipt and study of all plans a meeting of representatives responsible in each area will be held for the a coordination of the program on a nationwide basis. Interim Civil Defense Plans for Key Areas The formal Washington, D. ¢. civil defense exervies formulated by the National Security Resources Board amd the District Government jointly took Place the week of June 5. In a week-long series of meetings, a efitique was developéd of the original plans written by the various D. C. departments and their adaptation to the hypothetical atomic attack problem. Representatives of the Civili Defense Liaison and Radiation Instruments Branches and of the Public and Technical Information Diviaion were present at several of the meetings, At the recuest of NSRB for active participation in this program as it continues, arrangements were made for ir. Harry L. Bowman, Civil Defense “Liaison Branch and Or, L. i, Donaldson, Applied Fisheries Laboratory, University of Washington, to attend the Seattle exercise starting the week of July 10. Interdesartmental Committee on Hadiological Monitoring. On June 21 an invitation was addressed to the General Manager to appoint five AEC representatives to the NsRB Pnterdepartmental Committee on ladiological Monitoring. Formal establishment of thia Committee is an outgrowth of a two-day informal meeting called by the Civilian Mobilisation Office in April, attended by persons with competence to advise on a nationwide radiological monitoring program for civil defense. Several members of the Division of Biclogy and Medicine attended this oreliminary meeting together with persons from Denartment of Defense, Public Heaith Service, iiati.nal Institute of Health and General services Administration. The Comittee will consider matters such as the numbers and tyres of persons to receive second and third echelon training, organization of monitoring services, instruments, their standardization and calibrution, maintenance and repair and sermissible radiation doses. Disaster Cbservation., iy, Bowman visited the site of the Jouth Amboy explosion to observe resultant chysical damage. panic, It was learned that this disaster had occasioned no little hysteria and the men of the communities (south Amboy and Perth Amboy) reported to their city halls for duty. This is berne out by a report on the psychological aspects of the disaster prepared by the Operations Research Office of the Army. These communities are not average, however, in that they have had previous disaster experience and are accustomed to having explosives loaded at thelr docks. south Amboy had a disaster committee GPO _OFFICER| SURNAME> _ my { ern 7 catnsne coce nsan ane: al? DATE > 16-——-55741-!