ca RESEA CHER PRESS In-depth reports on todey's issues

~2 3 Published by CO Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. www.cqreseercñer.com

Preparing forDisaster A re "preppers" overstating tbe rise 01 catastropbe?

eople getting ready for catadysmic disastersby stock­

piling food , water and, in many cases, guns are easy

to dismiss as alarmisi:s. But a stream of natural and

human-created disasters has made so-called "preppers"

seem less eccentric and more sensible. Even the Red Cross and

government agencies recornmend assembling ernergency supplies

and planning for disaster. Sorne preppers go several steps beyond

- building rural re treats, for example, where they would hole up

ir society fell apart. To the more alarmed segrnent of the movement,

a collapse of moderncivilization isnot so much a possibility as

a probability. Overall, though, even the "prepper' label signifies a

more mainstream, less politicized approach than the "survivalísm"

of the late 20th century. Meanwhile, politicians and scientists share

sorne preppers' fears aboutthe vulnerability of the natíonal power

gríd and other vital services.

ca Researcher .• Aug. 2, 20 13 • -www.cqreseerchet.com . Volume23, Number 28 • Pages 669-692

Floodwaters cover New Orleans, La., on Sept. 6, 2005, eight days alter Hurricane Ketrine de vastated

the region. A serie s 01natura! end human-caused disasters in recent years, along with growing concern about the Iragility 01 the power grid, has prompted so ­called "preppers " to prepare ior luture catas trophes .

I 1HIs REPORf N

S

I

D

E

THE ISSUES 671

BACKGROUNU 678

CHRONOLOGY 679

CURRENT SITUATION 684

AT ISSUE 685

OUIlOOK 686

BrnuoGRAPHY 690

THE NEXf S1.'EP 691

RECIPIENT O F SO CIETY OF PROFESSIONAI. J OlJRj\fALISTS A\,\iARD FOR ($)SAGE I ilI COPRESS EXCELI.ENCE • AMERJCAN BAR ASSOCIATION SII.VER G AVEI. AWARD . LeI~Il,.(:nxr, INlIwDon

s.-v-.o"1W~t:XI ce

RREPARING FüR DISASTER •• CQ RESEARCHER

1lIE ISSUES

• Are prepper concems671 about the fragility of social, political and econornic sys tems justified? • Are gove mrnents doing enough to prepare for major threats to utilities and other infrastructure? • Are cities safer than rural areas in a d isaster?

BACKGROUND

Bomb Shelters678 Despite concem about nu­clear war, few Americans built shelters in the 196os.

Coming Apocalypse?680 Fears of a mega-catastrophe began growing in the 1970s.

Disaster Predictions682 The Y2K disaster that never caine undercut sur­vivalists' w arnings.

Preppers683 A series of disasters early in the 21st cen tury in­spired new concems about. preparedness.

CURRENf SrnJATION

Climate Prepping684 Loss of power stemming from clima te cha nge is a major focus of preppers.

Zombie Threat684 The message from Brad Pitt's 'W orld War Z" is be prepared for anything.

Cover: AFP/Getty Images/Robert Sullivan

670 CQ Researcher

686

672

673

676

679

680

685

689

690

691

691

OUI'LOOK

Continuing Phenomenon Apocalyptic expectatíons are dee ply embedded in Westem culture.

SIDE&RS AND GRAPIDCS

Americans Fear Nature . More Than Terrorists Seventy percent fear a major quake or hurricane.

Emergency Supplies Households Should Have Disaster kits should include water and a radio.

A Prepper Dilemma: To Share or Shoot "Dump me commando, militia attítude," advíses one.

Chronology Key events since 1951.

Mormons Plan for Emergencies "Times are always uncertaín."

At Issue: 15 a rural area me best place for surviving a clisaster?

FOR FURfHER RESEARCH

For More Information Organizations to contact.

Bibliography Selected sources used.

The Next Step Adclitional anides.

Citing CQ Researcher Sample bibliography formats.

Cll PRESS

Aug. 2, 2013 Volume 23, Nurnber 28

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Preparing far Disaster BY PETER KATEL

lliE ISSUES A

Ukinds of trouble can land on your doorstep, even in the generaUy

peaceful high desert of cen­tral New Mexico. "I'd rather know that I'm ready," a 40­something man says on a visit to Albuquerque. "1 keep all my vehicles with the gas tanks at least three-quarters full, and I've got plenty of food and water."

Catastrophes of recent years have gívensurvíval traín­ing new relevance, says the man, who got his first pre­paredness schooling in Bol' Scout troops led by World War II veterans. 'The eco­nomic disaster, bíg storrns ­the idea is to absorb the blow and try to recover," he says. "By being self-reliant, you can get to the point where you're resilient."

People who share that out­look and the act ívities that go with ít.have a name - "preppers:" Like the New Mexico man, many prize discretion, worrying that going public will make them vulnerable if disasterstrikes to those who haven't prepared - afear that dates back to the nuclear-fallout shelter days of the 1960s. (See sidebar; p. 676.)

Reputation ís a consideration as well. The prepper label has been circulat­ing foronIy a few years, bur it's aI­ready acquired. an eccentric tinge, thanks tq "Doomsday Preppers," a Na­tional Geographíc TV documentary se­ries that facuses on such people as the builder ofa $2 million, heavíly fortified desert retreat in Texas or a family learning to eat bugs so they can adapt ro their image of life in Costa Rica, theír planned haven from U.S. social and economic collapse. 1

www.cqresearcher.com

mands. "Youcan't just put your head in the sand anymore." 2

As federal officials and politicians urge more spend­ing to strengthen the power grid, a seemingly endless number of prepper blogs and websites offer detailed advice and recornmendations - as well as onIine shopping op­tions - on bulk food pur­chases, emergency water sup­plies, first-aid materials, generators and gear of all kinds. (Sorne preppers look for guidance on supplies to followers of the Mormon

oc: ~ faith, who have long been re­.,-~ quired to store food in case ~ of hard times. 3 (See sidebar;

BE

p.680.) ~ Any number of Americans Q: mal' keep extra food, barter­LL « ies or other supplies on hand

Actor Brad Pitt promotes his epocelyptic film "World as a matter of course, with­War Z" at the Moscow Film Festival on June 20, 2013. out considering themselvesThe film has tapped into a deep vein of anxiety about

preppers. How many people natural disasters brought on by elimate change, such as bigger forest fires in the West and strains on the electric embrace the prepper label is

power supply caused by extreme tempera tures. a matrer of speculation. Chad

Many preppers consider the show a caricature, but the program - like "World War Z," a HoUywood black­buster starríng Brad Pitt - has tapped into a deep vein of anxiety. (See "Cur­rent Situation," p. 684.) Hurricanes and tornadoes aside, experts sal' cli­mate change is bringing more and big­ger forest fues in the West, sea-Ievel rises that threaten coastal cities and extreme temperatures that strain the electric power supply, which many preppers consider fragíle.

Preppers arenot alone in that as­sessment. "We don't have a robust en­ergy system,"jonathan Pershing, deputy assistant energy secretary for climate change policy and technology, said in july, announcing a report that puts the price in the .bíllíons for short-term im­provements that clirnate change de-

Huddleston, an anthropology instructor at Southern Illinois Univer­sity at Edwardsville who hasembed­ded hirnself in a cornmunity of about 200 St. Louis-based preppers (50 of them active), says the group's onIine forum has 40,000 participants, con­tributing to more than 1 million dis­cussion threads. Expos last year to demonstrate and seUpreparedness sup­plies drew a reported 40,000 people. And Self Reliance Broadcasting, an on­line radio network run by expo or­ganizer Red Shed Media Group, reg­istered more than 2 million podcast downloads in 2012. 4

Apacalyptic expectations play sorne role in driving the prepper wave. TEüT­WAWKl (The End of theWorld As We Know Ir) in prepper jargon - is a concept carried over from the sur­vívalíst movement of the 1980s and

Aug. 2, 2013 671

PREPARING FOR DrSASTER

Americans Fear Nature More Than Terrorists

Nearly ttoo-tbirds ofAmericans tbinh a major eartbquake 01' burri­cane migbt occur during tbe next 25 years, according to a survey by Kelton Researcbfor tbe National Geograpbic Cbannel. About balf foresee a terrorist attack 01'financial collapse. Only 14percent are worried about nuclearfallout - rougbly tbe same proportion wbo

.don't believe any major catastropbe is around tbe corner.

Percentage ofAmericans Who Fear the Following Over the Next 25 Years:

Significant earthquake :::::::::::::~64 % Significant hurricane 63 %

Terrorist attack •••••••••••• 55°

.. Financial collapse •••••••III!II••• 51 %

Significant blackout ::::::~:t 3 7% Pandemic, super-virus' 29%

Nuclear fallout None of these

Source: "Doomsday Preppers Surtey.ífanuary 2012, Nattonal Geograpbic Cbatinel. http://images.nationalgeographic.com/upJ!media-liue/file/Doo111sda)'_Preppers_ SurlJf!.y_-_Topline_ResultspdJ

'90s. Nevertheless, preppers say they steer c1earof even the word "survivalist" becauseit came to be associated with far-right extrernísts such as Timothy McVeigh, who blew up a federal .buíld­ing in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people, inclucling 19 chíldren . 5

(See "Background,"p . 678.) "Somebody coined the term prepper and felt it better represemed thern," says Lee'Ann Imel-Hartford of Albuquerque, a prep­per who wrote a doctoral dissertatíon on the prepper movement.

Some commentators argue that "prep­per" is nothing but a new tag for well­wom worldvíews. "Por generations we have shared our America wíth Amerí­cans who fear change, fear difference; fear you and me, fear everything falling apart," wrote liberal historian Rick Perl­steín in Tbe Nation. "So much so that they organíze their lives and politics around staving off thefear." 6

Nor all preppers accept the notion of chaos around the comer. But alarm

672 CQ Researcber

about social and political breakdown is not hard ro find in the prepper­sphere. "1 think we are closer to eco­nomic collapse than anything else," says Don StapIes,who ILlOS rwo Trul'rep disaster recovery-supply stores in the Atlanta area and expects a breakdown of law and order. "The economy is not any better now than in 2008; in sorne ways it's worse - a lot less stable, less diversified, a lot of people are depen­dent on government, whích tries to get people to be dependent in order to maintain power."

Both preppers who foresee earth­shaking dísruptíon and others focused on natural disasters doubt that govern­rnent will be able ro offermuch help, at least in the ímmedíate aftennath of a catastrophe, For Imel-Hartford and others, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 played the biggest role in encouraging disas­ter readiness. Katrina crippled New Or­leans, and its consequences are felt to this day. "The govemment failed, FEMA

[the Federal Emergency Management Agency] failed, and failed miserably," Imel-Hartford says. .

Experts who don 't buy wholesale ínto preppers' doom-and-gloom pre­dictions say nonetheless that theirern­phasís on self-reliance can be useful. "Are you situationally aware?" asks Irwin Redlener, director of the Na­tional Center for Disaster Prepared­ness at Columbia University in New York. "If you live in Tornado Alley and don't have a storm cellar, you are not there yet. Or íf you're living on the coast in Louisiana or Brook1yn and may have to evacuate - do you keep the gas tank full? Do you have three days' of supplies? Know where your valuables are?"

On a prepareclnessspectrum, Redlen­er recommends a spot somewhere be­tween the extremes - ranging from "the survivalists,anned,olf the grid and don't comelooking for them" to "mind­less complacency, where the prevaíl­ing thought ís. '\\lha tever. It's safe, and there's nothíng I can do anyway, I'll deal w íth it when it happens."

Likeother dísaster-preparedness pro­fessionals, Redlener, a pediatrician, wor­ries about the reliability of the power grid - especially after seeing parts of New York City go dark last year after Hurricane Sandy. 7 Alarm bells about the power supply also are ringing at the híghest levels of government.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wamed last year before retír­ing that the United States faces the danger of a "cyber-Pearl Harbar" ­hostile penetratíons of computer net­works that control essent íalservíces in­c1uding the electrical supply through­out the country"

Less well known -to the general publie is the danger of a power shut­down caused by electromagnetic pulses (EMP) frorri nuclear weapons deto­nated .in the atmosphere, or by solar storms resulting in coronal mass ejec­tion, bursts of energy .from the sun that can damage electrícal facilities: 9

"Your cal' will no longer work, your cell phone won't work, the power will be out everywhere, planes will have fallen from the sky," one blogger wrore, in a rypícal posting. "Despíte our besr efforts to prepare for such an event there ís a good chance that many will not survive." 10

The forecast may sound over­wrought, Liberal commentators have argued that conservatives - until re­cently the loudesr voices on the EMP . issue - exaggerate the potential ef­fects of an EMP attack by a foreign power targeting the United States, be­cause it would prompt massive U.S, retallatíon. "True, an EMP that affect­ed even a single state would be, no doubt , traumatic and d ísruptive, bur ir would also be recoverable," Sharon Weinberger, a journalist specializing in military rechnology, wrote in 2010, 11

Nevertheless, the destructive poten­tíal of solar storms is beyond dispure. In 1859 the "Carrington event'' (after as­tronomer Richard Carrington) damaged Ameríca's recently built relegraph net­work. A 1989 solar storm shur down power for nine hours in most of the Canadian provínce of Quebec and part of the northeasrem United States. Elec­trie .power, spacecraft, aircraft and in­dustries reliant on GPS positioning are vulnerable to the effects of severe ge­omagnetic storms, concluded a report issued by a natíonal-securíty and rech­nology firm for the Homeland Securíty Department. "A power blackout lasting longer than 72 hours could create long­terrn implications for interdependenr public and prívate infrastructures." 12

Last May, Democratic Reps. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Henry A: Waxman of California called fo r ere­ation of á federal body empowered to ensure "that the grid is prorecred frorn potentíal cyber-attacks and geomagnet­íc storms."A 2010 bill co-sponsored by Markey (elected to the Senare thís year) would .have established the proposed agency, but it died in the Senate. No new bill has been introduced. 13

www.cqresearcher.com

Emergency Supplies Households Should Have

Tbe Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommends that A mericans have the follounng baste supplies on hand in case 01 burricanes, torriadoes, forestfires, jloods or otber emergencies:

• A rhree-day supplyof nonperishable food and w ater, including a gallon of warer per day per person

• Barrery-powered or hand-crank radio and NOAA weather radio with rone alert a nd extra barreries for borh

• Flashlighr, extra barreries

• Firsr-aid kit • Whisrle ro signal for help • Dusr masks ro help filter conraminared air and plasric sheetíng

and duct tape ro shelter in-place • Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal

sanitation

• Wrenchor pliers ro turn off utilities

• Manual can opener

• Local maps • Cell phone with charger, inverter or solar charger

Other crucial supplies might include:

• Prescription medications and glasses • Infant formula and diapers • Food and extra water for pets

• Cash or traveler's checks and change • Important documents • Emergency reference material such as a first-a íd book

• Sleeping bag or warrn blanket for each person

• Complete change of clorhing • Household bleach and medicine dropper for purifying water

• Fire extinguisher • Marches in a waterproof container

• Personal hygiene items

Source: FEMA, u'u'W.J·eady,gozy'basic-disaster-supplies-kit

As disaster specíalísts and social­policy experts examine the prepper movemerit, here are sorne of the ques­tions being asked:

Are prepper concerns about the fragility of social, political and economic systems justified?

At one e n d o f rh e di saster-

preparedness continuum are people trying to get ready for emergencies thar may already be affectíng nearby residents. In parts of the West, local news stations advise those living in areas that could be hit by forest ñres to assemble important papers, photos, a battery-operated radio and other items in case of an evacuation order.

Aug.2,2013 673

PREPARING FOR DrSASTER

In me Washington, D.C., suburbs of Virginia and Maryland , which have a history of long-Iasting power out­ages, owning a generator is consid­ered prudent. 14

At me other end of me speetrum are people who, in addition to getting ready for natural disasters, foresee total social and economic collapse - TEü1WAWKI '- just around me comer.

The aftermaths of recent dísasters of all kinds have prov íded what seems to sorne a foretaste of such apoca­Iyptic scenarios.

In New York City, for instance, by me time Hurrícane Sandy flooded out entire sections of me metropolitan area, resí­dents had seen theír city hit by me na­tion's worst terroríst attack.They also had gotten a dose-up víew of me effecrs of me 2008financial crisis,which rocked me city's major industry Reeling from mase events, AJan Feuer, a New York Times re­porter who caIls himselfa prepper, wrote: "1 began to forro a picture of me world as a system of unsustairIable systems, a rícketyRube Goldberg machine in which me loss of any one piece - cheap oil, say - could derail me whole contrap­tion, from truck transportation to me dis­tribution of food." 15

Belief that catastrophíc collapse trig­gered by financial and economic break­down ís ímminent runs through me on­line prepper uníverse, Blogsand websites by and for preppers are fílled w íth ad­vice and commentary, induding a list of goods that would be valuable for bar­tering (among thern, salt, toilet papel', antibiotics and powdered mílk), a warn­ing that "all of me money in your bank account could disappear in a single mo­ment": andadvíce-onhow ro prepare for "me comíng economic collapse." 16

The extremes meet on me issueof job srabiJity. Wim unemployment re­maining relatívely high - 7.6 percent according to me most recent federal jobs report- concem about job loss clearly ís realistic. 17

"I've got friends who got through bouts of unernployment because they

674 CQ Researcber

were preppers," says Staples, whose TruPrep supply outIets are lacated in me Atlanta suburbs of Marietta and Roswell. "Even if you are not super-wealthy, if you have food stored you can usually keep up your house payment"

But Staples also sees far worse on thehorizon than persistent - but not o Depression-Ievel - unemployment. "You have 48, 49 percent of me popu­latíon on sorne form of government assístarice," he says. *

"What is going to happen when me government runs out of money? It's going to happen eventually. What do you thínk those people are goíng ro do when me government stops pro­viding? That's when civil unrest starts ."

In light of me fact that me govem­ment wíthstood me bankíng crisis of

.2008, when fears of financiaI system collapse reached me highest levels of government and Wall Street, those fears strike others as overstated. 18

.Fernando Aguirre, an Argentine blog­gel',author and consultant, lived through

·a version of what preppers like Sta­pIes predict, when me Argentine fi­nancíal system coJlapsed in 2001. Sorne turned to barrer, and a wave of armed robbery, kidnapping and home invasion persisted even after me cri­sis peaked. "1 think Argentina is a good example of me worst-case scenarío, when things go to hell," hesays. "We went through fíve presídents leaving in a week, banks closing their doors. 1 don't think that's likely to happen in me United States." 19

Aguirre now lives in Ireland, which suffered its own fínancíal and eco­nomic crash at about me same time as me United States did, wíth pro­found effects still being felt, 20 Butdif­ferent countries respond differently to major crises. "Security isn't much of a problem here," Aguírre says. "When we got here, 1 would ask people, 'Do you have robberies ínvolvíng several

• More than half of those beneficiarles receive assistance fromSocial Security, Medicare orboth.

armed attackers?' People look at me like, 'Are you insane?' "

Still, me financial crash of 2008, continuing unemployment and other events of me new century have left lasting impressions on other preppers. "The world ís more unstable," says me 4D-someming prepper in New Mexi­co. "There ís a lot of political unrest and social upheaval g1obally. People are looking at mis and asking , 'What if toral war in me Middle East breaks out? What happens tooil? What if me Euro implodes?' "

He Iikens present conditions to one of me stages of me decline of me Roman Empire . "The flrst stage: money for everyone, me second, me start of me collapse - we're handing out bread and geníng people into me Coliseum . I believe we're at me end of me sec­ond stage."

But Arthur Bradley, an eleetrical en­gíneer at NASA and preparedness au­mor and consulrant, sees natural dis­aster and dísease outbreaks as more Iikely dangers than collapseof me economic andsocial order. "I'm not one that goes ro bed every night think­ing me world is go íng ro faJl apart," he says. FoJlowing me fínanc íal crisis of 2008, he says, "Ir looks Iike we picked back up.'

Bradley concedes that the crisis "could have gone me other way" into worldwíde financial collapse. But he's more worried .about possibiJities such as a global pandemic. "1 see things Iike a new SARS-like virus, and 1 think that it wouldn't take much," he says. "If mere was a Iittle mutation ir! that virus, by the time anyone could make a vaccine, potentially a quarter of me planet could be affected. To me, that is a realistic world-changing event.'

Are governments doing enougb lo

prepare for major tbreats ..to utüi­ties and otber infrastrueture?

Hurrícanes Karrina and Sandy, major forest tires in the West and floods in me Midwest show me power of natural

dísasters to destroy and dísrupt, Climate change is speeding up and intensify­íng sorne categories of disaster, even as it puts new stress on the natíonal energy system, ínclucling oil and gas exploration and delivery as well as the power grid, the Department of Energy reported in july, ' 21 But not all cata­strophes have natural causes.

Ex-Secretary ofDefense Panettas warn­ing about the possibílíty of catastrophíc cyber-attacks on essentíal services was reinforced in July, when7be Neto York Times reported on a boorníng interna­tional business of díscoveríng - and selling at híghpríces - ínformatíon on software flaws through which hackers can . pe netrate computer networks, in­duding those thar mn power plants and other industrial operations. Buyers in­elude foreign governments hostile 01'

potentially .hostíle tothe United States, as well as US. governrnent agencies and prívate companies. 22 '

Even before that report, johnArquíl­la, a prcfessor of defense arialysis at the US . Naval Postgraduate School in . . Monterey, Calif., had written thar crim­inals and enemies are quíetly and con­stantly penetrating supposedly secure ' parts of the global network, íncludíng those that operate vital services. These penetrations "pass largelybeneath our levels 'of awareness," he wrote. 23

Nevertheless, a series of cyber-attacks last year on the Saudi Arabian oil in­dustry and on sorne American banks atrracted considerable ' attentíon. The attacks wiped out data onthousands of Saudi computers and blocked sorne bank customers' online account ac­cess. ' American officials blarned Iran for the attacks, acknowledging that Iran apparently was responcling to report­ed US.-Israeli sabotage vía cornputer virusof vital machinery at an Iranian nuclear development facíliry, 24

Cyber-attacks aside, US. infrastructure also .ís potentially vulnerable to nuclear electromagnetíc pulse (EMP) detonations and to solar fiares, known technícally as geomagnetícstorms,

Critics question whether eleetric ut íl­ities are up to the challenge posed by such threats.Reps. Markey (now a sen­ator) and Waxman said last May that only one-third of investor-owned utíl­ities reported taking measures to pro­tect against solar dísruptions, accord­ing to a congress íonal staff survey of

The National Rural Electric Cooper­atíve Assocíatíon, 'a trade group, called the survey "alarmíst" Líkewise, the Amer­ican Public Power Association, which represents more than 2,000 comrnunity­owned electric utilítíes, noted that the survey covered only a small number of

, the countrys 3,600 electríc companies,

A firefíghter helps a woman tosafety in Little Ferry; N.I, on Oct. 30, 2012, during f100ding resulting from Hurricane Sandy. Scientists say sea-Ievel rises

caused by climate chenqecould threaten coastal areas in the United Sta tes and around the world. In nearbyNew York City, the storm tlooded entire sections.oi

the metropoliten area. Outgoihg Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed a $19.5 billion package to include floodwall and levee construction as we/l as

f100d protection for hospitels and apartment buildings.

more than 100 electric utilities. More than a dozenutilities reported a high level of attempted cyber-attacks, the SUf­

vey also found. 25

Markey and Waxman concluded that regulatory authoríty over utiJities had not kept up with threats to the power supply, asserting that evidence showed that utílíties take securíty measures only when ordered to do so by regulatory agencies. Most -u tílí tíes that answered a survey question about securíty re­spondedthat they hadn't followed reg­ulators' recornmendatíons, according to me survey reporto

And the survey demanded information that theíndustry is required by law to keep secret forsecuríty reasons,according to the power association's vice president for government relatíons. 26

Preppers and nonpreppers alike have been concemed for some time about electrical-gríd vulnerabiliry. "TI1e fed­eral government does' a prerry good job of responding to ernergencies," says eleetrical engíneer and prepper author Bradley. "But the electrical ínfrastruc­ture issue ís such a large-scope prob­lem that nobady has stepped up to make it robust."

www.cqresearcher.com Aug. 2, 2013 675

PREPARING FOR DISASTER

APrepper Dilemma: To Share or Shoot "Dump tbe commando, militia attitude," adoises Orle.

The topic is inescapable among preppers. When disaster for more than a week without outside resupply, gangs and stríkes, what to do about the fact that sorne people have looters are going to be headed your way next." 1

prepared and most have not? The issue of the unprepared versus the prepared has cropped "\Vhen 1 gíve serninars," says prepper author and blogger up before . During the 1960s' nuclear fallout shelter craze ­

Arthur Bradley, "there will always be a guy wíth an army jack­ marked by more discussion than actual shelter building - one et who says, 'My neíghbors are not going to have supplies, so of the major topícs of díscussion was what to do about neigh­they're going to come for mine." bors who hadn't built their own shelters.

Bradley, alife mernber of the National Rifle Association, dis­ In 1961, Time summed up one side of the debate, wrltes courages this line of thinking, favoring a cooperative approach historian Kenneth D. Rose, with an anide headlined "Gun TI1Y based on sharing assets. "My neighbor is an emergency room Neighbor." TI1e piece quoted a suburban Chicago resident de­doctor," he says. "We have a stockpile of sorne goods, and he claring: "When 1 get my shelter finíshed, I'm going to mount has skills." a machine gun ar the hatch to keep the neíghbors out if the

Whether Bradley's approach is the majority or minority view bomb falls. . . . If the stupid American public will not do what is impossible to sayo""'hat is clear is that the prepper comer of they have to do to save thernselves, l 'm not going to run the the Web is filled with discussions and blog posts that center on risk of not being able to use the shelter l 've taken the trouble armed response to peopl e hoping to grab preppers' supplies. to provide to save my own family." 2

"Survival and preparedness planning does not include just Taking up the other side of the argument were religious storing food, supplies, guns and medicine, or creating tactical leaders, induding evangelist Billy Graham . "1 feel a primary defense plans for your home and property," a blogger named responsibility for my family," he said, "but 1 don't believe 1 Mac SJavo wrote in a post that represents a heavily represent­ myself could stay in a shelter while my neighbor had no pro­ed strain of prepper thinking. "There w íll be organized gangs tection." 3

whose sole method of acquiring necessities will be through Even President john F. Kennedy, who had promoted fallout looting. This is why it is important to prepare ríght now, . .. shelter building, felt obliged to weigh in. He urged Arnericans Be at horne finalizing your defense preparations - doing things to "concentrare more on keeping enemy bombers and míssiles like setting up barbed w íre, firing lines, booby traps and ca­ away from our shores, and concentrate less on keeping neigh­ordinating with neighbors - because if the disaster event lasts bors away frorn our shelters," ~

Given the ·national dependence on pulse damage - d ídn't require mem­ Disaster Preparedness. "It's costly. vbut electricity, the system 's weaknesses pose ' bers [o take protective action. "It gave we could proteet a lot 01' our elec­a majordanger, Bradley says. "If you actions that could be taken if there was tricity generatíon fram natural EMP lose electric íty, within a few days you an in1pactful storrn that was go íng [O super-charges fromsolar storrns, 01' de­lose air traffic, medical care [and] the come toward the Earth,' Cauley said. liberare acts 01' terrorism.' . fuel delivery trucks wouldn't be able "But ír was not issued as a required ser "Somebody has to say that we want to pump fuel," he says . "Then telecom­ 01' actíons.' 27 . [O spend money to do that," Redlener munications fails, and very soon you're Cauleyspoke in similar terms about says . With the economy struggling, he back to everybody being on their own." the threat posed by cyber-attackers. "Our says , no one in authority has rnade

Electricity industry representatives say strategy 1'01' security recognízes that a tha t decision. they are doing everything possible to perfect defense agaínst the bad guys is ensure speedy recovery fram attacks on not achievable nor necessarilyaffordable," Are cities safer tban rural areas the grid. But under questioning at a he said . The alternatíve. : he said, is to in a disaster? Senate hearingin 2012, Gerry Cauley, keep securíty standardshigh. 28 Survivalism, the nearest ancestor 01'

president and CEO 01' the North Amer­ Concems about the adequacy 01' the prepper movernenr, embraced the ican ElectricReliability Corp., a non­ power-supply protections are voiced idea that rural areas offer the best chance profit that trains and certífies personnel by the entíre spectrurn 01' disaster ex­ 1'01'holding out when catastrophe strikes. 01' large power .prod ucers, and devel­ perts. "We have not taken sufficient For sorne survívalists, the idea of re­ops índustry standards, acknowledged steps, in my opinion. . to make our treating ro the backwoods grew out 01'

that the assocíation - while warning eleetrical gríd more EMP-resistant" says a strong identification wíth early ..xmen­about the dangers 01' electr ómagnetic- Redlener 01' the National Center 1'01' can settlers and pioneers.

676 CQ Researcber

As the president's partícípation shows, the 1960s debate took constant state of awareness. I would draw my gun [and] keep place on a national level. Today's discussions of protecting self, the person ar gunpoint; they would become very, very rea­family and supplies in an emergency go on among preppers sonable:' themselves. And the moral issue that was the center of dis­ Nevertheless, the conditions thar Aguírre and his family sur­cússion 50 years ago doesn't crop up now, because the wíde­ víved were a deterioration in law and order, not the complete Iy shared assumption is that whoever is coming for one's sup­ collapse that sorne preppers say is around the comer. plies is not friendly. Among those who do share the so-called 1'EOT\XTA\X1KI (The

Among an intluential group of St. Louís-based preppers, End Of The World As We Know Ir) vlsíon, sorne note that sorne - but not all - members forecast the emergence of hopes of resisting looters síngle-handedly are futile. "You will . "roving bands of bad guys trying to get your stuff," says Chad not be able to fight off the hordes of marauders who want Huddleston, an anthropology instructor at Southern IlIinois Uní­ your weapons and food stashes," a blogger wrote last year, versiry at Edwardsville. He adds that sorne of the preppers "in "Dump the commando, militia attitudc and rnove to an agrar­sorne way hope that the marauder discourse proves true, so ian community. Being armed against an occasional violent crim­they can use their guns," inal is great , but you will not fight off the entire city of hun­

One prepper with personal experience in living through gry people in Detroít." 5

a socioeconomic crisis agrees that guns can be valuable. Fer­nando Aguírre, an Argentine author and blogger (in English) - Peter Katel on the prepper círcuit, says that crime increased after hís country's economy imploded in 2001-2002. "If things start I Mac Slavo, "A Guide lo Looting When SHTF (And Your Couruer-Suatcgies),"

SHTfplan.com , Ap.iI21 , 2011, www.shlfplan.com/emergency-preparednessla­getting bad, you're really going to be seeing a spike in crime guíde-to-looting-when-the-shtf-and-your-counter-strategies, 04212011.

and a spike in unnecessary and unreasonable violence in 2 Quoted in One Nation Underground: Tbe FallO/II Sbelter in American Culture

crime, beca use of the social hatred between those that have (2001) , (Kíndl e edítíon, no page numbers noted).

and those that don't have," he says from his new home in :l Quoted in ibid.

Ireland. 1 Quoted in tbid.

Aguírre says pistols saved his life more than once. "1 never ; "Preppers - Wald1 This Video ," Bark!Foru m, Dec. 1, 2012. http://forum.bark forum.com/t642-preppers-walch-this-video. kílled anyone," he says, "most of all because I was in a good

"From about the 1600s to the late to re-supply," wrote Ken jorgustín, who gencies. "That is not a good place ro 1800s - there were lots of people runs the "Modern Survival Blog " site be ·long terrn," he says. "1 have a place who had to survive by their own wíts and an associated online store . He pre­ out in the míddle of nowhere. If you're and guile in the wilderness," one sur­ dícted that have-nots along with hard­ in an isolated area, and there are a vivalist told Philip Larny, a professor ened . crímínals would "ser up road bunch of you and you can defend of socíology, anthropology and music blocks and ambushes . . . to loot you where you are and have a back-up at vermont'sCastlesron State College. of your supplíes,' 30 plan for gertíng out, 1 would say that "Davy Crockett was a survivalist. . . . An anonymous contributor to Sur­ is much safer than being in a círy.' There were thousands of people liv­ vivalBlog, a popular site among prep­ In cíties, "What is going to happen ing that way in the American wilder­ pers, wrote similarly that in escaping when socíery starts collapsing, when ness.' 29 his home círy, Dallas-Fort Worth, he govem.ment starts losing control?" Staples

Beyond looking ro hístory for role would avoid major highways because asks. "You're going to have gangs start models , survivalists tended lo see post­ "those are the routes that will either ro take over." disaster cities as dangerzones, filIed with fall under tightgovernmenr control, or He cites a 1992 riot in central Los hungry and hostile crowds. This attitude more likely, will have 'survíval of the Angeles following the acquittal ofwhíte persists among many preppers. "If the fíttest areas' where .those who are not police officers accused of beatíng power has already been down for days prepared prey on those who have any­ black motorist Rodney Kíng. Howev­with no near-term hope of restoratíon, thíng of worth.' 31 el', he says he is not implying a race there will be lots of starving, thirsry StapIes of TruPrep says he views connection. "It's not going to be racial ," and desperate people, sorne of whom h ís home in the Atlanta metro area as he says, "it's going to be haves versus will have turned to violent measures strictly a place for short-term emer- have-nots.'

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PREPARING FOR DrSASTER

Blogger and author Aguirre, though he experienced Argentína's breakdown of law and order in Buenos Aires, the capital and major cíty, says sparsely populated rural areas don't necessarily offer more safery. "Isola­tion means you are exposed," he says , "which means you are in much greater danger."

Inaddition, Aguirre argues that Amer­ican preppers overly ínfluenced by pop culture depictions ofsocíal and eco­nomic collapse are ignoring more prob­able scenarios in whích they'll have to stay employed, even after dísaster has struck . "There's this idea that it's going to be the Wild West ," .he says, "but it will be like unemployment at 25 per­cent - hundreds of people for every jobo You'll have .to be very good ar what youdo." And in the deep coun­tryside, he says, "There is much less job opportuníry."

Lamy, who has studíed surv ívalist and millennialist subcultures, argues that rural areas would offer advantages over cities - but not the deep, sparse­Iy inhabited countryside that preppers favor. 'Td rather be where I arn right nowIn case of a terrorist attack or economic collapse," says Lamy, whose college is in a town of about 1,500. "Though thís is a rural state, people live in tight-knit communitíes."

Communities, not the isolated rural areas that many preppers recommend, offer key advantages, Larny says. The impulse to retreat to the remote coun­tryside reflects "too much of a focus on the individual ," ·he says . 'To me , in the event ofa crisis, it's your neigh­bor whom you're most likely going to rurn to. And I'm not a survi valist by any mear:s . I would defínítely need to rely on my neíghbors."

.Prepper author and bJogger BradJey argues that city and suburb dwellers will fínd their best survival possíbili­ties right at home. "Nine times out of 10, you're better off stayíng at your house," he says . "You've colleeted your life's worth of supplies, and instead

678 CQ Researcber

you 're going to try to stock them up in your líttle bítry car?"

Further, home ground offers the protection and advantage of a local support system, Bradley says. "Unless the world goes so far down that you lose all sense of socíety, hístory shows that we band together when times get tough. I always tell people to try to establish a good network of friends, family and neighbors. If you can get everybody ro get a líttle bit of buy­in, you 're way stronger than you are by yourself." •

BACKGROUND Bomb She1ters

P.reparations for the end of the world have been features of reli­

gions and cívilizatlons for millennia. The ancient Hebrews expected the apocalypse (from ·the Greek word for "revelation"), leadíng to judgrnent day, a concept later adopted by Christians and Muslims. 32

Biblical and Koranic warnings aside, the possibility of worldwide de­structíon didn't become an imminent threat untíl the United States dropped atomíc bombs on Hiroshima and Na­gasaki in August . 1945, ending World War 11, followed several years later by the Soviet Union's constructíon of its own nuclear arsenal. 33

The fírst rwo U.S. presidents of the Nuclear Age - Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower - devised strategíc policies to reflect the new balance of forces . Civil defense played a relatively minor part in these strate­gies. Yet a program sti11 seen as defin­íng the early Cold War era began under Truman 0945-1953),

Public school training of school­children ro "duck and cover" agaínst a nuclear blast began in 1951, when

the Federal Civil Defense Administra­tion produced a booklet and animat­ed mm, which both bore that title. 34

"Duckand cover" training went on in public schools around the country throughout the 1950s as tensions wíth the Soviet Union escalated. This pro­tection technique would later be mocked as futile. Still, Eisenhower rejected the idea ofspending up to $30 billion on bomb shelters, investing ínstead in a formidable nuclear arsenal designed to deter an attack.

Eísenhower's successor, ]ohn F. Kennedy, won congressional approval for a $208 million civil defense pro­gram that would include Iocatíng and desígnatíng spaces in public and pri­vate buildings that could be used as shelters from post-blast radiation "fa11­out. " "The lives of those families whích are not hit in a nuclear blast and fire,' he said, "can still be saved -if they can be warned to take shelter and if that shelter is available." 35

That policy followed studíes in the 1950s showíng that evacuating cities if a nuclear attackappeared imminent was unworkable.

Months before Kennedy's ]anuary 1961 inauguration, only 1,565 home fallout shelters had been built nat íon­wide. By 1965, the country had an es­tímated 200,000 family shelters, but those would do little to protecrapopu­latíon of 194 million. 36

The underwhelming public re­sponse to the call to build shelters was also reflected in public opinion surveys. In Septernber 1961, 93 percent of respondents to a Gallup poll said they had not seriously considered protecting their homes agaínst nuclear attack, Interese rose the followíng year, amid the Cuban Missile Crisis. But despite scattered rush orders for shelters, the U.So-Soviet nuclear stand­off .failed to prompt a sustained, nation­wide drive to prepare emergency dwellings in hopes of surviving a nu­clear strike.

Continued on p. 680

Chroflclogy__ 1950s-1960s Dawn of atomic age raises issue of boto Americans would protect tbemselves from nuclear attack,

1951 Schoolchildren begin learning to "duck and cover,"

1953 President Eisenhower rejects idea of encouraging Americans to build bomb and fallout shelters.

1961 President John E Kennedy, amid mounting tensions with the Soviet Union, pushes $208 billion civil defense program through Con­gress, including establishing fallout shelters in public and private buildings. . . . Debate opens on morality of refusing space in one's shelter to a neighbor.

1962 Cuban Míssile Crisis brings US. and Soviet Uníon close tb nuclear war.

1965 Number of private family fallout . shelters nationwide peaks at 200,000.

1968 Paul and Anne H. Ehrlich's Tbe Population Bomb wams of immi­nent ecological catastrophe.

1970s-1980s Apocalyptic tbinking gains wide popularity, accompanied by revived fears of nuclear con­frontation witb Sooiet Union.

1970 Tbe Late Great Planet Eartb by Hal Lindsey cites Bible as proph­esyiIig nuclear war, begins long run as best-sel1er.

1981 Sales of survivalist supplies reach an estimated $150 million.

1982 Reagan administration launches $4.2 billion civil defense program based on plan .to relocate up to

rwo-thirds of US. populatíon if nuclear war seems imminent. .

1983 Reagan administration launches project to develop .Strategic De­fense Initiative, dubbed "Star Wars." ... ABC's "The Day After" TV movie showscatastrophic effeets of nuclear arrack on a Kansas town.

1987 Massachusetts Institute of Technol­ogy concludes that small-scale nu­clear attack on United States would throw survivors into "near­medieval" conditions for decades.

1990s-2000s' .Extremist violence tarnisbes survivalism label as millennium .

. ' . .

fever grouis; poor government . performance in disasters gives

rise lo prepper trend.

1993 Apocalyptic Branch Davidian cult members die in fíery end to 51-day federal law enforcement siege.

1995 Timothy McVeigh, neo-Nazi bomber with ties to survivalists, destroys Oklahoma City federal building, killing 168 people.

1998 Fears grow of a worldwide "Y2K" computer disaster on Jan. 1, 2000; U.S. companies and govemment agencies begin spending on projeets designed to avert projected disaster.

1999 Spending on Y2K preparation reaches estimated $100 billion.

2000 Tum of millennium is uneventfu1 , defying predictions of disaster.

2003 As Severe Actite Respiratory Syn­drome (SARS) epidemic spreads from Asia, experts conclude public health systems lack capacity to handle pandemics,

2005 Hunicane Katrina strikes New Orleans; officials bungle relief effort.

2007 Financial crisis begins, leading to high unernployment and eroding public confidence in economíc stability;

2012 Hurricane Sandy strikes East Coast, devastatíng some areas and dis­rupting e1ectricity supply in parts of Manhattan and elsewhere. '. . . Retiring Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wams of looming "cyber­Pearl Harbar" attack on vital pub­licservices. ' . . . Senate cominittee holds hearing on reliability of na­tional electric grid. . ; . NationaJ Geographic TV begins "Doomsday Preppers'' documentary series. . "Mayan Calendar" seare feeds doomsday visions.

2013 US. Energy Departrnent reports that climate change threatens elec­tric utílítíes and other energy sys­tems. . . . Deadly Oklahoma toma­does prompt debate on adequacy of state safery codeso . . . Booming trade .in identifying computer system flaws underscores fears of cyber at­tacks. . . . Hollywood blockbuster 'World War Z" plays on prepper· . fears of sudden, devastating social and economic collapse.

www.cqresearcher.com Aug. 2, 2013 679

RREPARING FOR DISASTER

Mormons Plan for Emergencies "Times are always uncertain,"

For decades , rnany Mormons have kept al least three months w orth of food, w ater and emergency money in their homes, but members of the Mormon Church - of­

ficially, The Church of j esus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LOS) - say their motivatíons have to do with reasonable prepara­tion for emergencies, not fears o f a mega-catastrophe.

"Functionally, it looks a lot like wh at preppers do, but the imperatives behind it are somewhat different," says Matthew Bowman, vísitíng assistant professor of religión at Hampden­Sydney College in Virginia and author of T7Je Mormon People. Tbe Making 01 an American Faitb .

Mormons seek self-relíance in case of unforeseen personal or social circumstances: their aím is to create a community of literal and spírítual stabiliry, Preppers typ ically focus on stock­piling íte rns to help them survíve a short-terrn d ísaster or ­as sorne preppers foresee - major catastrophe ínvolvin g the collapse of social, political and financial institutions.

The Mormon pract íce of storing food and water goes back to the 19th century, as followers of LOS founder joseph Smith fought poverty and practiced se lf-re liance as they fled per­secution and sought a new beginning in the \\:les!. 1 The LOS church teaches "p rovident living" - encouraging members lO be self -suffic íent in literacy and education, career devel­opment , financial-resource managernent, gardening and food storage, physical health and social, emotíonal and spiritual strength . 2

"Church members are counseled to have a three-month sup­ply of basíc supplies such as fo od , wat er and savings to care for themselves and the ir farnílíes," LOS spokesman Eric Hawkins said by email, "This is not about 'prepping' for the end of the world . These ítems can be used lo meet any number of cir­curnstances including emergencies, un employment or ilIness."

Mormons expect difficulties to arise from polítícal, social or natural disasters, bUI "tend lo reframe rheír theology of an 'end time' to the necessiry of living wísely in the present time ," says

Kathleen Flake, assodate professor of American religious history al Vanderbílt Universiry.

Still, the prepper communl ry does includ e Mormons. LOS member Jam es Talmage Stevens was raised lo be prepared and has a couple years' worth of supplies in storage, he says, Stevens, who ow ns me Preparedness Radio Network , is known as Or. Prepper on his daily radio show and is the author of Making tbe Best 01 Basics. Stevens says he has been an "avid prepper" for me past 39 yea rs, but not because of his MOnTIon background.

"1 grew up in an era wh ere there wasn't enough food to go around," he says .

The LOS Church taught and encouraged self-reliance, Stevens says, bUI his family pra cticed ír beca use farm life allowed thern lO survíve dífficult times during \\:Iorld War 11. Preparedness was an econornic necessíry, he says .

Self-reliance is important in MOnTIon history, but two events made food and water storage prominent with in the LOSChurch, Bowman says, First, the stock market crash of 1929 and en­su ing economic collapse len church leaders distraught, as they watch ed members suffer through the Great Oepression. I..eaders suggested that mernbers store up a two-year supply of food when they were finandally able, Bowm an says. 'me LOS Welfare System was also created to encourage communal lon g-term stabíliry, as an alternative to the social programs developed by Presid ent Franklin O. Roosevelt.

Today me church runs 101 storehouses - food banks that provide bulk food - in Canada and the United States,

A second ímpetus for Mormon preparedness began in the 1960s, when drastic changes in American society sent a shock­wave of milIennialism through the LOS community and led many members to belíeve the second corning of j esus Christ was at hand. "Mormo ns were distressed by the moral collapse of socíery,' Bowman says, Millenníalism len many LOS mernbers in a panic, leading LOS leaders to crush the movernent in the

T

Continued trom p. 678 the top of the best-seller list. Tbe Pop­ sorne counter-trends and were wrong ulation Bomb, by Stanford University about timing, but were fundamen tally

Coming Apocalypse? . biology professor Paul Ehrlich and rus correct.) 37

wífe, Anne H. Ehrlich, later the poli­ As the Ehrlichs' forecasts círculated he 1970s saw a growing belief in cy coordinator of Stanford's Center for among environmentalists, dísaster ex­a comíng apocalypse. By the 1980s, Conservation Biology, forecast wíde­ pectatíons were growing among Chris­

belief that disaster was looming would spread environmental disast er ·and tian evangelicals,whose rustory of apoc­propel a movement of people getting famine by the 1980s. Global agricul­ alyptical thinking dates back to the readyto endure and,they hoped, sur­ ture and water supplies would be early 1800s. vive catastrophe. strained past capacity to supply a con" Hal Lindsey, a former minister with

Helpirig to influencecatastrophic stamly expanding number of humans Campus Cmsade for ChriS!, sparked a views of the irnmediate future was a throughout the world, theEhrlichs revival with a 1970 book that became 1968 .book that quicklyrocketed to wrote. (They now say they missed a publishing sensation , lbe Late Crea!

680 CQ Researcher

1980s and 1990s, Bowman says. Members who hoarded food, preached conspíracíes, owned doomsday videotapes, had splin­ter study groups or performed any other actions that the LDS Church considered "extreme" were subject to excommunica­tion. 3 111at action takes away a person's membership rights and privileges. 1

Leaders had previously fought for decades to eradicate stigma linked to past religious beliefs, such as polygarny, that ostracized the LDS Church from socíery, The uproar of "doomsday" Mormons was seen as an embarrassment to leaders who feared the actions might reaffirm past negative ideas, and ultimately, cause Mormons to be "perceived as kooks." 5 Ir was one of the church's largest excommunications since the 1850s. 6

Sorne excommunications took place because of what was seen as excessive food storage. "1 was told that one year's worth of food storage is enough and anything more ís excess," an LDS member told Tbe Salt Lake Tribune in 1992. 7 The church gradually reduced its storage standard from two years to the current three months by publishing changes in its Prooident Liumg pamphlets, but made no public announcements explaining the reason behind it, Bowman says.

"111is is a global church, and in sorne areas of the world, its either impractica\ or illegal to store these supplies," Hawkins said.

Volunteer-run, church-affiliated canneries provide a place to buy cheap food in bulk. For those who cannot afford the food, the LDS Welfare System - in partnership with the church-op­erated storehouses (food banks) - supplies it to the poor. However, food recipients must volunteer time to the welfare system as a way to promote self-sustainability.

Eighty-five percent of LDS storehouse produce is provided through the church's welfare system, says Stevens, who is also in charge of the San Amonio bíshop's storehouse in Texas. Church members fast for 24 hours on the first Sunday of every month and donate the money that woulcl have bought meals

Planet Earth, which cited biblical pas­ population on the sages as prophecies applicable to the Tribulation will be

Bread and other food items are prepared at Welfare Square, the Mormons' emergency

storehouse in Saft Lake City, Utah.

for that day to the welfare system, Stevens says. Storehouse food is not just for LDS members, but can go to anyone with a valid request.

Mormons beJieve in being able to take care of themselves and each other, Flake says. "Times are always uncertain," she says.

- Alisba Forbes

1 C1aire Holton Hammond, Soutbern Economic journal, Vol. 61, No. 1, july 1994, p. 230, WWW.~~lor.orglslable/1060154. For background, see Marcia Clemmítt, "Understanding Mormonísrn," CQ Researcher, Oct. 19, 2012, pp. 889-912.

1 "Provídent Living - A W,¡y of Life," The Church of jesus Christ of Laner-day Saints, Septernber 1987, www.lds.org!liahona/1987/09/proviclenl-living-a-way­of-life.

3 Hugh DeUiC6, "Doomsday' Mormons Say Churrh Rejects Them," Tbe Cbicago Tribune, Jan. 3. 1993, w,,·w.anicles.chicagou-ibune.com!I993-0l-D3/news/930 3152411_1_molmon-church-monnon-alliance-ehurch-leaclers.

4 "The Guicle to [he Scríptures: Excomrnunicaüon," The Church of jesus Chríst of Laner-day Saints. www.lds.orglSCIiptures/gs/excommunicalion?lang=eng.

5 Dellios, op. cit. 6 Chrís Jorgensen and Peggy Fletchcr Stack, "lt's judgment Day for Far Right: LOS Church Purges Survívalísts," Tbe Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 29, 1992, p. Al, ,,·ww.ibiblio.orglpub/acaclemic/political-science/fa:icism!LDS.press.

7 Ibid.

Earth during the The owner of a projeet to build a annihilated," the 240-unit underground shelter in Utah

late 20th century - including the threat late Rev. ]erry Falwell, an influential said of prospective customers: "Half of nuclear war and the 1948 creatíon and politically powerful Southern Bap­ believe there will be nuclear war, and of Israel. 38 tist minister, said during the 1990s. 39 half believe there will be economic

But apocalyptíc expectations didn't The same forecasted events that collapse followed by complete chaos, leave much room - beyond accept­ apocalypse preachers drew on also riots, that kind of thing." 40

ing Christ - for surviving the "end figured in another group's prepara­ Survivalists were not alone in fear­times," which include a time of "tribu­ tions for collapse of the social order. ing nuclear war. In 1982 the admínís­latíon" when conflict and disaster in­ So-called "survívalists" began stockpiling tration ofPresident Ronald Reagan 0981­tensify, that Lindsey and others pre­ food and other suppliesand setting up 1989} launched a $4.2 billion civil dicted, "[udgment ís comíng, and the ruralhideouts to retreat to when the defense program designed to relocate carnage is :;0 horrible that most of the social order collapsed. up ro two-thírds of the population to

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BREPARING FOR ·DISASTER

safe places if nu clear w ar rhreatened. The underlyíng idea was that the strat­egy could lead to a su rvival rate of 80 percent of the American people ­up from the 40 percent rate estímated in the absence-of mass relocatíon. 41

The following year, in another move that kept issues of nuclear war andsurvivability on me natíonal radar, Reagan proposed the .Strategic De­fense Initiatíve , a hígh-tech system de­signed to shoot down Soviet missiles . Ir was irnmediately nicknarned "Star Wars ." (The fírst movie in that sedes had appeared in 1977.) 42

Reagan pitchedthe plan as one that would make nuclear war less likely ­and, by ímpl ícatíon, civil defense less ne cessary -bec'ause the shoot-down strategy wouldreplace the doctrine of massive retaliation that had been in place since the early days of the Cold War. In a televísed speech from the White House, Reagan argued that bis plan would crea te "a truly lasting stability." 43

But Reagan 's earlier belief in the possibility of nuclear war stoked fears as well as calls for riuclear disarma­ment. Months after the 1983 "Star Wars" speec h, ABC broadcast a TV movie, "The Day After," which showed the devastation of a nuclear strike on the town of Lawren ce ; Kan. The fílm helped lead to an uptick in support for a freeze onnuclear weapons (though Reagan remained popular, wín­ning .re-electlon the followíng yea r). 44 .

. The fílm's graphic depictions of the horror of nucl ear war didn't bolster the admíní stratíon 's line thatthe effec ts of a nuclear attack could be mítigated. Crit­ícs were also arguing that atomic con­flict wouldbe almost unimaginably car­astrophíc A 1987 study published by the Massachusetts Inst ítute of Technol­ogy concluded that even a limited nu­clear attack on the Uníted States would leave survivors in "near-med íeval levels of existence" for decades. 45

The MIT study effectivel y confírmed survívalísts' worst fears. In 1984; Tbe Washington Post íntervíewed a Mary­

682 CQ Researcher

land family that was systematically preparing for atomic disaster, with a years supply of food, water and water­purification equipment, firearrns, gen­erator.and -fuel and more, including a van with a40-gallon gas tank . "Un­less you líve in the heart of a city, the odds are you wíll survíve," Steve Whit­ney told !be Post. "Then you face the real challenge. It's not survívíng the attack.Jt's survíving the week after it, the month after, the year after." 46

Disaster Predictions

T he 1990s saw an event that Iess­. ened wíde appeal of the terrn "sur- .

vívalíst," . And dísaster predietions suf­fered a temporary loss of credibility after the arrivalof the year 2000 was marked by the nonoccurrence of the so-called "Y2K" catastrophe predicted by many

. seemingly well-qualífled people.. Early in the decade, a 51-day siege

by federal law enforcement agencies of a compound run by a well-armed religious cult near Waco, Texas , ended in the deaths of as manyas 86 of the believers , including 25 children. They died in a fire that a government-ap­poínted special counse l concluded was started by cult members. Th e compound housed members of the Branch Davidians - abreakaway fac­tion of the Seventh-day Adventist de­nomination that followed a messi anic figure .named David Koresh. He preached that the apocalypse as de ­scribed the Bible 's "Book of Revela­tion" was imminent. · To Koresh and his followers, tha t visíon was confirmed w hen Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco , Firearms and Explosíves agents tried to serve a search warrantat the com­pound, leading to a gunfi ght that tríg­gered the siege . 47

Sorne others with apocalyptíc views looked beyond religion. In 1995, far­r ight extre rnis t Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Fed eral Buildin g in Oklahoma City, inspired

by visío ris of a race war laid out in a novel by a neo-Nazi leader, the late William Pierce. Investigations connected McVeigh, who was executed in 2001 for the deadly bombing, with a sub­culture of far-rí ght rural extremists, sorne labeled "survívaltsts." 48

A Salt Lake City entrepreneur, Dan Chittock , had helped forge the ties be­

. tween those simply preparing for dis­asters ·and those whose preparatíons were tied to an ideological perspec­tive based on conspiracy theories and racism o"1 crea red a forurn for contro­versia! and altematíve ideas," Chittock told Tbe Washington Post' at a trade show in Seattle five months after the Oklahoma City bombing. The Pre­paredness Expo featured sellers of man­uals on sniper training and on mak­ing land mines, booby traps and firearrn silencers. 49

But sorne other vendorsdisplaying products . with no ideological o ver­tones - beef jerky, reu sable laundry products and ·greenhouses - were wa ry of their more militaristíc fellow exhibitors.

Eventually,the less politically orí­ented ve ndors drifted away from the far-ríght ones, and the survivalíst move­ment sp lít between people expecting politicallycharged events and those prepar ing for earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural d ísasters.

As sorne survivalists tried to devel­óp a ne w way of assessing rhrea ts, top . US government officials we re worrying about a reappearance of one of the b igge st threats to human­ity - ínfect íous disease . In the 1990s, the admín ístra tion of President Bill Clinton (1993-2001) forrnally listed dis­e ase sprea d as a nat íonal security issu e . The move refle cted grow íng concern prompted by events, includ­ing the spread of avian influenza C'Avían Flu") rhrough Asia. 50

The backdrop to all of these de­velopments was the approach of the new míllenníum, which sparked fears among a wide specrrum of people that

the world was heading toward glob ­al catastrophe. One seemingly plausi­ble scenario grew out of the major technological changes under way at breakneck pace during the Iast decade of the 20th century.

With banks, transportatíon systems and utiJities increasingly operating on computer networks, a number of ex­perts predícted a worldwide catastrophe when cJocks and calendars rurned over to the beginning of the 21st century. 51

For about rwo years before what be­carne un íversally known as "Y2K," many computer expertssaid prograrruning codes buílt into older computers wouldn't rec­ognize post-1m dates , thereby .plung­ing banking, utiliry and transportatíon services ínto chaos. 52

Consultants among those warning of potent íal d ísaster p rofited hand­somely. In the United iStates .alone, co mpan íes and government agencies were estímated to have spent at least $100 billion to avert a Y2K disaster in their nerworks. 53 But the expected catastrophe never occurred.

Preppers

E.arly in the 21st cenrury a succes­sion of events, fromthe Sept. 11,

2001, terrorist attacks toa string of hurrícanes, wildfires and other natur­al disasters plus the financial crisis, in­spired a new waveof preparation for the worst.

Several yea rs into the millennium, the terrn "prepper' cropped up ; al­though who coined ir is uncertain. 54

Many .who adopted the term believe it avoids the extrerníst or ant í-soclal associations of "survivalist."

The Sept . ' 11 attacks would seem ro have beenenough to generate new fears of sudden disaster, but preppers and those who srudy them point to the slow-movíng catastrophe generated by Hurrícane KatrinaIn New Orleans in 2005 as more ínfluentíal. Huddleston oE Southem IIlinois University says he

~.cqresearche~corn

was surprised when surveying preppers ro leam that Sept. 11 had had lirtle ro do with awakening their concems. 'They aU tied it back to Hurricane Katrina," he says. 55

An es tímated 1,500 people - but perhaps as many as 3,500 - clied as a result of the hurrícane and ensuíng flood­íng in and around New Orleans. 56

FEMA officials had downplayed or ig­nored explicit and accurate warníngs of the likely effecrs of Katrína in New Orleans. The agency sent orily one­

. quarter of its search-and-rescue force to the city before the storm, and no emergency relief personnel at all unt íl after the hurricane had moved on . 57

State and city officials dídn't do a much better job.Sevenry percent of New Orleans nursing homes weren't evacua ted, desp íte state regulations to the conrrary. And armed criminals ter­rorized some seeking she lter ar the city's conventíon center, where san íta­tíon in the crowded building deterío­rated to the poínt of threaten íng the health of those who had taken refuge.

Some people concluded that those who took cornfort in the idea that gov­ernmenr agenci es would help them if disaster struck were kidding themselves. That víew seemed to be confírmed less than ayear after Katrína by investiga­tors cornmissioned by a group of Re­publican House members. "Katrína was a failure of initiative," a report saíd, aiming íts criticisrn a t the Republican admínístratíon of President George \YI. Bush (2001-2009). "Blinding lack of sit­uatíonal awareness and disjointed de­cisíon making needlessly compounded and prolonged Katrina 's horror." 58

Meanwhile, the speed wíth which disease could spread globaUy prompt­ed deep concem in circles not gíven ro alarmísm. By 2005, the spread of Se­vere Acure Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), a virus iden tíñed two years earlier as it spread from Asia to the Amerícas and Europe, had convinced public health experts that even societies with ad­vanced medical systems were vulnera­

ble to the massíve spread of dan ger­ous diseases. "111e potential for a pan­demic comes at a time when the world's public health systems are severely taxed and have long been in decline," Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for globa l health al the Council on Foreign Relatíons, wrote in 2005. 'Th.is is true in both rích and poor countries." 59

Later in the decade, economic d ís­aster struck. The crisis, which began in 2007 - and still pers ísts for many ­left deep scars on Americans who lost jobs, as well as on those wh o feared losing them and facing long-term un­employmenr . "The unemployment rate is soaring ," the Pennsylvania-based ad­mínístrator of a prepper web site told the For! Wor!b Star-Telegram, "and most people are not prepared to be without a paycheck for a week, much less a month or longer." 60

The recession persuaded some prep­pers that gettíng ready financially ranked as high on the prioriry list as storín g food. "The fírst thíng, 1 say, is get debt­free," the New Mexico prepper says , ech oing a sentíment that crops up re­peatedly on prepper websites.

Even as the effecrs of high unem­ployment Iinger, ap ocalypt ic fears got amajor dose of hype in 2012, as a variety of self-proclaimed prophets in the ' ''new age " ca mp claimed the Mayan calendar foretold the end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012. The "Mayan calendar" scare had less effect on preppers, but díd show that concems or fears of the future were resonating throu gh other sectors of society. "1think this tells us more about ourse lves, par­ticularly in the Western world, than it does ab out the ancíent Maya," Geof­frey Braswell , an associate professor of anthropology and leading Maya scholar at the Univers ity of California, San Diego, told The Assocíated Press. "The idea that the world will end soon is a very stron g belief in Western cul­tures. . . . The Maya, we don 't really know if they believed the world would ever end ." 61 liI

Aug. 2, 2013 683

RREPARING FOR DI5A5TER

CURRENT SITUATION

Climate Prepping

M any preppers, responding to re­cent power blackouts duríng hur­

rícanes and other natural dísasrers and to me potentíal for carastrophíc ínter­ruptíon of power supply from solar storms, foresee suddenly losíng electrícíry,

At me same time, awareness of longer­term threats to electricity reUability and other pillars of modem life is growing in prepper círcles. "1 would sure hate to see us end up a desert like me one near Egypt," one commenter wrote in a thread on drought on me . ínfluentíal American .Preppers Network site. 62

However irnmínent me danger of mas­síve desertification may be in the United States, scientists and engineers from the U.S. Department of Energy are reporting that climate change is affectíng the na­tíonal power system in the here and now.

"Increasíng temperarures, decreasing water availability, more intense storm events, and sea level rise will each in­dependently, and in some cases in com­bination, affect me ability of the Uníted States to produce electricity from fossíl, nuclear and existing and emerging .re­newable-energy sources,"me department said in a report issued in july, 63

The report, which covers threats to me entire energy índustry as weIl as electricity supply, reflects a growíng sense that avoiding clímate change cat­astrophes will require major steps at all levels of govemment.

In New York, outgo íng Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed a $195 billion package to include flood­wall and levee construction as well as flood protectíonmhospítals and apart­ment builclings. The plan is designed to avoíd another clisasterlike me one.caused last year by Hurricane Sandy. 64

684 cQ Researcher

In Oklahoma, where one of sever­al intense tomadoes that hit me state mis year kilIed at least 24 people in Moare, south of Oklahoma City, me events have led to questions about whether laws or building codes should require homes to have storm shelters. "Most homebuilders would be agaínst that because we think the market ought to dríve what people are putting m me houses, not me government," Mike GilIes, former president of me Okla­homa State Home Builders Associa­tion, told Tbe Neto York ·Times . 65

That me climate is changing, with cIearly measurable effects , is not open to serious question. When it comes to mese effects' consequences for me na­tíonal power supply, me Energy De­partmentIays out a vision of gradual decline including regional blackouts, rather than sudden cataclysm.

Among preppers, however, getting ready for sudden shutdow ns is a major topie. Prepper sites are fílled w íth dis­cussions and explanations ofhow to set up altemative power sources, me cludíng gasoline-fired generators, and solar- and wind-powered systems. One prepper even Usted steps for setting up a mini-hydroelectric systern. "One of me major d ísadvantages ís that mese systems clearly are not portable," he adds, warning preppers who are plan­níng to evacuare theír homes. 66

Preppers settíng up theír own .power systems are getting read y for long "gríd­down" periods. So far, me energy de­partrnent report said, recent electrícíty shutdow ns have been temporary, due to a variety of clímate-related events that hit eíght Northeastem states, San Diego Counry, Ca1if., and parts of Texas, North Carolina and New Mexico,while power stations in Connecticut, Illinois, Arízona, Alabarna and Michigan límped along at .reduced capacity. 67

The símplest of me clírnate change straíns on me electríc grid is rising tem­perarures, which prompt heav íer use of air conclitioners. Those straíns are liable to continue. Under me worst-

case scenarío, average temperarures in me Westem sta tes could rise by up to 5.2 degrees Celsius C9 degrees Fahren­he ít) by me year 2050, according to a srudy by Argonne Natíonal Laboratory m Argonne, m, cited m me Energy Department reportoArgonne calcula tes that me resulting higher demand for air conditioning will require adding 34gigawaus of generating capacity, al

a cost of about $45 billion. 68

. For now, in addition to rising tem­perarures, drought in pan of me coun­rry is reducing water supply for cool­ing power plants and for hydroelectríc installations. Rísíng sea levels along wíth fiercer storms are hittíng power plants near coasts . Bigger andfíercer forest fires in me West are buming through transmíssion línes.

Zombie Threat

O ne of me closíng lines of "Warld War Z," a summer blockbuster

now .in theaters, echoes dassic prep­per wísdom : "Be prepared for anythíng." The Brad Pitt vehicle centers on a plague that moves across me world virtually at me speed of light, creating a terri­fying species of zombíes.

The film .plays en a favoríte therne among preppers, who favor zombiesas a collective metaphor for sudden, dras­tic socia! collapse. "World War Z" has hit screens at a time wh en apocalyptic disaster isbecoming a favoríte therne for movíes and TV series. "There's somethíng m me zeitgeist right now thars making mese storíes even mare intríguíng,"TV producer Ga1eAnne Hurd told entertaínment wríter T. L. Stanley. "Wim me global economy beíng a mess, floods , tornadoes, hurricanes,wars , everyone's waiting for me other shoe to drop and affect them personally But w íth some of this entertaínment, they can experience it once removed." 69

.Hurd is executíve producer of "The WalkiJ1g Dead," a TV· zombie drama

Continued on p. 686

At Issue:-----------'------------­

Is a rural area tbe best placefor surviving disaster?

DON SfAPLES

t:

MANAGER, TRUPREP RE'L4IL OlffLETS, .. ROSWELL AND MARlETTA, GA.

WRITfEN FOR CQ RESFARCHER, AUGUsr 2013

best location for survívíng disaster depends on many . variables. What rype of disaster? Are you in the iniddle of

a large city or in the suburbs? Is it a long-term síruatíon like an economic collapse or short terrn líke a tomado?

In the short term it makes sense to stay in your house, with all yourpossesstons and connorts. No point in abandon­ing everything b'ecause a tornado kríocked o t power for a week . If nothíng else, you need to be th'ere tO protect your investment.

If the dísaster ís going to last many rnonths ro ayear or more, getting where you can subsist i essentíal, You need to be able to grow food, find c1ea drinking water and be safe

. from what may be happening in the cíty or spread íng from the ciry to me süburbs, There will be many people totally unpr epared, and most wil! become a problerri for those who did prepare.

The fírst príoríty is water. If you are buyíng land in advance, do not buy anything wíthout its own water. Space ro grow food ís the second príoríry. It is impractical for most people to store enough food to get through a long-term issue.. You must also have seeds , hand tools, fertilízer, open space that gers plenty of sunlíght andplenty of help from the family and/or fríends you bring along. Shelter ís hugely important as well. A tent wiJI serve in the short termbut building somethirig more substantíal wiJI be important. You may also builda permanent shelter in advance or have a recreational vehicle onsíte, The RV could also serve as transportation to the location. You will also need fírearms and ammunition to deal with predators of the two- and four-legged varíery, Gettíng out of densely popu­lated .areas wíll keep you and yours safe from most of the rwo-legged animals, and the four-legged ones 'Vil! be food at some point.

1 cannot over-ernphasíze the ímportance of groups for mutual support. The lone-wolf types wiJI be the first to die, as no one can. stay alert 24(7. The people in the group should have varying skills, including mechanícal ability, hunt­ing abílíty, medical training, etc. There should be people who know how to grow food as well, though everyone should pítch in to help with the farming labor.

Get these people together, preferably in advance , and the group should be able to survive any long-term disaster com­forrably.

FERNANDO AGUIRRE ~BASED PREPPER AUlliOR AND BLOGGER

WRITIEN FOR CQ RESFARCHER, AUGUsr 2013

t: idea of a rural homestead beíng the best place tO be during a diS<:,ster is u.sually fueled by Hollywood and fic­

. tíon rather than historyand logíc. . A rural location has few advantages. In a pandemic, for ex­

arnple, beíng away from masses of people sounds like a good .íd éa. But what about nonhuman vectors of dísease? Some of the worst pandemics \' been spread by rats and mosquitoes, and these are much easier control ed m urban areas,

What about an economic crisis or full economic collapse? Won't cítíes burn to the ground witti the bra e survivors bugging out to e country? Again, histOIJ' sliows that people rnoveto the cities when ther é's an econorruc crisis, not the other way around, and írs small towns that end up turníng Into ghost towns.

I've lived through an economíc collapse while living in Argentina, and 1 can tell you from fírst-hand experíence it's nothing like you see ín movies,

What about social unrest andwídespread ríotíng when police are helpless? In spíte of the dramatic ímages of ríotíng, the truth is that other than full-blown war, violence from ríot­ing and lawlessness ís limíred to a few days or weeks, In Ar­gentina; following the fínancial meltdown of 2001-2002, wide­

. spread ríotíng lasted only a few days, with sorne additional incidents happeníng sporadically several weeks later. Riots in such places as London, Los Angeles and , recently, Brazil fol­lowed a similar pattern. Rioting looks eye-catchíng 00 TV, but ít's not as ímpressíve when you look at how long it Jasts or the number of fatalitíes.

Being away from the city does reduce the chances of being victimized by vandalism, petty crime and occasíonal break-ins, but an isolated house is more often targeted than one where neighbors are closer by. In fact, in hígh-crírne parts of the world like Latin America or Africa, isolated homesteads are impossible to defend from determíned criminals. Instead, people choose to live in gated communities or apartment towers with good securíry,

In spite of all the doom and gloom, 90 percent of us will probably die from cancer or cardiovascular complications ­cornmon, ordinary illnesses that don 't sound as cool as zombies or raiders. Being doser to quality medica) care means that your chances of survival increase considerably, and so does your quality of l¡fe during treatment.

www.cqresearcher.com Aug. 2, 2013 685

RREPARING FOR DrSASTER

Conlinued from p. 684

that became an instant hit on At\1c.

Other global catastrophe-therned TV shows inelude "Fallíng Surpríse,"an alien­invasion series On TNT; and "Revolu­tíon," an NBC series scheduled to start

in me fall that posits a global power blackout. TNT is planníng another apocalypse series as well, "The Last Shíp," about a Navy destroyer crew that is at sea when a panderníc w ípes out rnosr of humaníty Meanwhile, Natíon­

al Geographic's "Doomsday Preppers,"

featuríng real characters getting ready for disaster, wiJI be returníng for a sec­ond season. 70

The vogue for post-apocalypse drama also ineludes seríous fíctíon, such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Cormac McCarthy's 2006 novel, Tbe Road (later a movie starring Viggo Mortensen),

To some extent, me post-apocalypse cultural wave is a repeat performance. In the 1950s and '60s, film and pop­ular fíctíon were filled wíth tales of nuclear war and its consequences. On tbe Beacb, a novel and then a 1959 movíe about a small group of sur" vívors gatheredin Australia, made a deep enough impression on me pub­lic, writes historian Kennem D. Rose, mat the Eisenhower adminisrration felt

686cQ Researcher

The vulnerability of the nation 's powet grid to natural and menmededisesters, including terrorism, worries politicians and scientists, as well as many preppers. Less well known to the qeneretpublic is the danger of a power shutdown caused

by electromeqnetic pulses.(EMP) from nuclear weapons detonated in the atmosphere, or by solar storms that can damage e/ectrical facilities.

itself obiíged ro respondo The U.S. In­formation Agency worked on a guíd­ance document for its spokesmen ­"Possible Questions and Suggested Answers on me Film 'On me Beach .' " The adminístrat íon's civil defense di­rector, Leo . Hoegh, commented un ­happily about me novel. "If you . . . took that thing as beíng me truth, everyone would give up." 71

Today, government agencies are tak­ing a dífferent approach. View íng me popularíty of zornbíe-themed apocalypse

c:

~ "3 U) eti · ::J ~ U> Q) O)

.s ro

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.dramas as an opportuníty, me U.S. Cen­ters for Disease Control and Prevention launched a preparedness campaígnlast year,"Zombie Preparedness,"whích Iíght­heartedly uses me fictional rhreat as a PR devíce. "If you are generally well equipped ro deal w íth a zombie apoc­alypse youwíll be prepared for a hur­rícane, pandemic, earthquake or terror­ist attack," Dr.. Ali Khan.ithe centers' director, saíd on me site . 72

The CDC was copying a humor­infused tactic used by ar least one prepper group , theSt. Louis-based "Zombie Squad." Noting that someone ready for a zombie uprísíng is ready for anything, thegroup says on its site: "We want to make sure you are pre­pared for any crisis siruationthat might

come along. in your daily life which may inelude havíng .your face eaten by me forrnerly deceased." 73

Huddleston, theanthropologist who has embedded hírnself with me squad , says me choice of name was a deliberare bid to artract ínterest. "They say thar if they were called the St. Louis tornado squad nobody would come ro rneetíngs," he says.

"World War Z" makes a convíncíng

case for a zombie plague as a text­

book symbol of sudden callapse. The movie depiets the sudden, worldwide desrruction of vírtually every pillar of me soc ial and political order,

Along me way, the film valida tes many preppers' faith in fírearms ­whi ch are effectíve agaínst the movie's

zombies, under me ríght circumstances. And Pitt's character echoes another doctrine espoused by many preppers. Escape me .crowds and cha os. He telis another family: "Movement is life." ..

OUTLOOK Continuing Phenomenon

D ísasters are an effective recruit­íng rool for the prepper rnove­

ment, author/engineer Bradley says. After a 2011 tsunarni wrecked a nu­clear power plant at Fukushíma, ]apan, causing major díscharges of radioactive ma terial. -:; "1 received hundreds and hundreds of ernaíls from people on the \Vest Coast worríed about radia­tion . sayíng. "Ihe government is going to lie to us : - Bradley says. "Every­body wa s scrambling for iodine tablets and radiation meters. Sales of my books skyrockered."

Lntíl the next big d ísaster hits, Bradley expects ínteres t in prepping ro wane, asafter-shocks of recent dis­3Sters fade .

Still. in a young century in which disasters ha \'e already béen plentiful,

says Redlener of ColumbiaUniversi­ty's National Cenrer on Disaster Pre­paredness, 'The impetus for the prep­per movement is not go ing to go away."

Aguirre, the Argenrina-born prepper author/b logger, expecrs in terest in prep­píng ro remain high as long as the eco­nornic crisis persisrs. "In five years, you are still goíng to be seeíng qu ite a bit of thí s'' prepper activiry, he says. "Maybe in 10 years it will decrease as things start getting a little bit better."

But historian Rose notes that apo c­alyptic expectations are deeply em­bedded in Westem culture . And the prepper movement, .as the latest em­bodimenr of a trend that has appea red befare in the Uníted States, has proved its durability. "This is sorriethíng you saw in the '60s," he says. "What.we 're seeing ís just a differenr face on an older phenomenon."

Nevertheless, socíologíst Lamy of Castleton State College in Vermont says a faster pace of major change may be intensifying a sense of the need for pre­pa redness. "Bíg global changes are in­deed .alteríng and .changíng the eco­nomí c, social, and cultural fabric of our society," he says in an email. "It's change and fear of change (and a deeply root­ed apocalyptic mythology) that fuels míllenníalísm, whether relig íous cult, anti-government survivalists, or the prep­per movement,"

Still, as a movement w ith no fixed doctrines or membership requ iremenrs, "prepperism" doesn't fu ínto a single an­alytícal scheme. Imel-Harrford ,the prep­per and scholar of prepperism, argues thar the underlying spirit is no more complicated than basic common sense.

"You get car insurance , and you have a jack and a spare tire in your car, just in case you get a flat tire," she says. "Say there's a gas short age , and ship menrs can't get food to gro­ce ry stores, and it lasts a week , or a

bzr íd-dow n situation - toral socíetal and governrnental collapse. I'm hop­ing tl1at nothing like that would ever happen, but I'm prepared ." •

Notes

1 "Doomsday Preppers ," Nationa l Geograpb­ic , "The Time o f Reckoning," rep eat broad­

cast, jul y 11, 2013, ha p:// ch annel.national

geographic.com/cha nnel/doomsday-pre ppers/

videos/doomsday-aJamo/ ; "Gonna Be a Big

Bang ," repeat broa dcast, Jul y 25, 2013, hnp://

channel.nationalgeographic..co m/channeVdooms

day-preppers/ vídeos/bugged-our/. 2 Quoted in j ohn M. Broder, "Climate Change

W¡J] Cause More EnergyBreakdowns, US. \Xiams,"

Tbe New York Times, jul y 11, 2013, www.ny

times.com/2 013/ 07/1 1/us/ clirnate-change-will­

cause-more-energy-breakdowns-us-wams .html?_

r=O;. "U S. Energy Sector vulnerabilities to Cli­

mate Change an Extreme Weather," U.S. De­

partment o f Ene rgy, july 2013, pp. 1-7, hnp://

e nergy.gov/ sites/prod/fUes/2013/07/ f2/2013071

O-Energy-Sector-Vulne rab ilitie s-Repon.pdf.

3 Richard Morgan "Prepper Food List," in Great Nortbern Prepper blog, un dat ed, www.great

nonhemprepper.com/food-prep/food-prep-lists.

4 Keith O'Brien , "How to Survive Socíetal

Collapse in Suburb ia," Tbe Neui 'rorle Times,

Nov. 16, 2012 , www.nyt imes .com/2012/ 11/ 18/

magazi ne!how-to-survive-so cietal-collapse-in­

su bu rbia .htmPpagewanted=all. 5 "Te rro r Hits Home: TI1e Oklahoma Círy Bo rnbing," Federal Burea u of Investigation, un­

dated, www.tbi.gov/about-us!histo ry/ famo us­

cases/ oklah om a-cíty-bo mbíng. 6Rick Perlstein , "Nothíng New Under the

\'(/ingnut Sun: 'Survi valism,' " Tbe Nation blog,

Feb. 2, 2013, www.thenation. com/blog/I72619/

nothing-ne w-und er-wingnut-sun-survivalism#

ixzz2Zyslvqms.

7 James Barran, "After the Devastaríon, a Daunt­ing Recovery," Tbe New York TImes,oa.30, 2012,

www.nytimes.com/2012/ 10/31/ us!hunicane ­

san dy-barrels-regio n-leaving -b-aaered-path .hunl?

pagewanted=all.

8 Quoted in EJisabeth Bum.iJJer and Thom Shanker,

"Panetta Wams of Dire Threat of Cyberanack

on US.," Tbe New York Times, Oct. 11, 2012,

www.nytimes.com/201 2/1 0/l 2/worl d!paneaa­

warns-of-dire-threat-o f-cyb erana ck.hunl . For

background, see Rolan d Flarniní, "Improving Cybersecuri ty," CQ Researcber, Feb . 15, 2013,

pp. 157-100; also see Brian Hansen, "Cyber-Criroe,"

CQ Researcber, April 12, 2OO2,pp. 305-328.

9 Arthur T. Bradle y, Disasr.er Preparednessjor EMP Attachs cmd Solar Stonns(2012).

10 '7 actions to take imme dia tely foJlowing

an EMP strike," Prepper-Resources,Jan. 2 2013 ,

www.p repper-resources .co m/7-actio ns-to-take­

im mediately-following-an-ernp-strike.

11 Sharon Weinbe rger, "The Boogeyman Bomb," Foreign Poli cy , Feb. 17 , 2010 , www.foreig n

polícy.com/artides/2 01O/02/ l7/ theJxx>geyman_

bombo

12 "Geomagnetic Storms," CEN-rnA TechnoJogy

lnc., Jan . 14, 2011, p p. 11-13, www. oecd.org/ gov/ risk/46891645.pdf; "Abo ut CENmA," un­

dated, www .ce ntra techno logy.com/ About/;

Richa rd A. Laven, "\,'il hat if the Biggest Solar

Storrn on Record Happened Today," Na ttonat

Geograpbic News, March 2, 2011, hap :/ /ne ws.

nationalgeogra phic.com/news/20l1/ 03/11 0302­

so lar-flares-sun-stoffi15-ea rth-da nge r-canington­

event-science/ . 13 "Electric Grid Vulne rability: lndustry Responses

Reveal Securíty Gaps,' staff report, Reps. Ed­

wa rd J. Markey, D-Mass., and Henry A. Wax­

man, D-CaJif., May 21, 2013, p. 2, hap:/ / demo

crats .ene rgycornmerce .ho use.gov/sites/defaulr/

fUes/documents/Re port-Electric-G rid -Vulne ra

bility-2013-5-21.pdf; j osh Hicks, "House Democ­

rats' repon says power grid ís vulnerabl e ro

cyber aaac ks," 77Je Washington fust, May 22 2013,

www.washingtonposLcom/bJogs/federal-eye/

w p/ 2013/ 05/ 22!house-democrats-re pon- says­

power-grid-vu lne rab le-to-cybe r-anacks/; Sea n

Sullivan , "Ma rkey wins Massachusens Senate

race,' TbeWashington fust,June 25, 2013, 'V'''W.

wash ingtonpost .co m/blogs/post-pol itics/ w p/

2013/r:I5/25/markey-w ins-massachuseas-sena te­

race /. 14 j oe Stephens and Mary Pat Flaherry, "Why

Pepco Can't Keep the Lights On," Tbe Wash­ington Post, Dec. 5, 2010, p. Al, www.wash

ington posLco m/Wp-dyn/content/anicle/ 2010/

12/ 04/ A1U010 120403887.html.

15 Alan Feuer, "The Preppers Next Door," Tbe New York Times, Jan . 26, 2013, www.nytimes.

co m/ 2013/0l/27/ nyreg ion/ the-doomsday-prep

pers-of-new-yo rk.htmJ?pagewa nted=a ll.

16 Michae l Snyder, "25 Things That You Shoul d

Do To Ge t Prep ared For The Comíng Eco­

nomic Collapse," Tbe Prepperfournal, April 11,

2013, ,vww.thep reppe~oumal.com/2013/04/ll/

25-things-that-you-sh ouJd-do-to-get-prepared­

for-the-coming-econornic-collapse/ , "AlI OfTI1e

Money In Your Ban k Account CouJd Dísap­peal' in a Sing le Mornent " (b log post by "Silent

Prepper"), PrepperCentral, April8, 2013, hup://

preppercentral.co m;?p=3832; "Barteríng Sup­

plies TI1at You Haven't Th ought Of;And Some

You Have!" blog post by "Carl," American Prep­

pers Nerwo rk, April 29, 2013, hnp:/ /american

preppersnerwork.com/entry/banering-supplies­

that-you-haven -t-thought-of-and-some-you-have.

www.cqresearcher.com Aug. 2, 2013 687

RREPARING FOR DISASTER

17 "Employme nt Sítua ríon Summary," U.s, Bu­

reau of Labor Statístícs, july 5, 2013, www.p bs.

o rg/wgbh/pages/frontline/ melrdown. 18 '1nside me Meltdown,' Fronrline, PBS, Feb. 17,

2009 , www .pbs.o rg!wgbh/ pages/fro ntline /

meltdow n/view/. 19 Pere r Katel, "Arge ntina: me Post-Mon ey Econ­

omy,' Time, Feb. 5, 2002, www.time.com/time/

world/a rticle/0,8599,199474,OO.hlml; j on jerer, "As Crime Soars, ArgentínesAlter Outgoíng Ways,"

1be Washington Post, j an . 27, 2003, p. A11. 20 Pamela Dunca n, "Irish experience 'cara­

srro phic cha nge in circu rnstances' due ro eco­

nomi c crisis," Irisb Times, May 14, 2013, W\·VW .

irishrimes.comjnews/socia l-affairs/iris h-experi e nce-carasrrophic-change-in-circumsrances-d ue ­

ro -economi c-crisis-l.1392709; "Ireland's eco­

nomic crisis: how d id ir happen and w hat is being done abour it?" European Commission,

. j un e 12, 2012, hnp:// ec.eu ropa.eu/irelan dikey­

e u-policy-areas /econo01y/irela nds-eco nomic ­

crisis/i ndex_e n .hrm. 21 For backgro und, see jennifer Weeks , "Clí­mate Change,' CQ Resea rcher, june 15, 2013; Reed Karaim, "Clímate Change,' CQ Global Re­

searcber, Feb . 1, 2010, pp: 25-50; Chanan Trgay,

"Extreme Wearher ," CQ Researcher,Sept 9, 2011,

pp. 733-756. "l.IS. Energy Sector Vulnerabilities

ro Cüma re Cha nge and Extreme Wea me r,"

U.S. De partment of Energy, july 2013, hnp://

energy.gov/sites/ prodlfilcs/2013/07/ f2/201307 1 6 -Energy% 20Secro r%20Vu lne rabi lirie s%2 0

Report .pdf. 22 Nico le Perlroth and David E. Sange r, "Na­

tions Buying as Hackers SeU Flaws in Com­

purer Cod e,' 7be New York Times, j uly 13, 2013,

www.nytimes.co m/2013/07/14/world/europe/ narions-buying-as-hackers-seU-compurer- flaws.

html'pagewant edeall . 23 j ohn Arqu illa, "Panetta's Wrong About a

Cyber 'Peal'] Harbor,' " Foreign Policy, Nov. 19,

2012, www.foreignpolicy.com/anicles/2012/ 11/

19/ panettas_wro n8-abouc a_eYber_pea rl_harbor. 24 Th om Shanker and David E. Sange r, "Iran's

Hand ls Suspected In Co mputer Anacks,' Tbe Neto York Times, ocr. 14, 2012, www.nyt imes,

corn/2012/10/14/world/ middIeea st!us-sllSpect5­iran ians-were-be hind-a-wave-of-cybe ranacks.

htmlzpagewantedeall: john Markoff an d David

E. Sange r, "In a Comp uter Worrn, a Possible Bib­lical Clue ," Tbe New YOrk Times, Sept. 30, 2010,

www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/world/middleeast/

3Owonn .h trnl?pagewanted=al~ EUen Nakashirna and joby Warrick, "Sruxnet was work of U.S.

and Israelí experts, officials say," Tbe Washing­ton Post, june 2, 2012, hnp:// anid es.washington posi.com/2012-06-01/world/35459494_ 1_n u

c1ear-program-sUlxnet-senior-irani an-officials.

2S ''Eleetric Grid Vulnera bility: Indusuy Responses

Reveal Security Gaps ,' op. cit.; pp. 3, 15. 26 "APPA: Recenr cybersecuríry r e pon 'a d ís­

tractíon,' " SmartGrld Today, May 28,2013, www.

smartgridtoday.com/articles/9487-appa~ma rkey­

wa xman-cybe rsec urity-reporr-a-distractio n.

27 "Sen. jeff Bíngarnan Holds a Hea ríng on

Cybe r Securiry and the Elecrric Grid,' Senate Comm ittee 0 0 Energyand Natural Resources ,

j uly 17, 2012, CQ Transcriptions, www.gpo.

gov/fdsys/pkglCHRG-112Shrg75809lhtinVCHRG­

112shrg75809 .hrm . 28 1bid.

. 29 Quered in Philip Lamy, Millennium Rage. Su ruiualists, White Supremacists, a nd tbe Do omsday Propbecy ( 996) , p. 66 .

30 Ken j orgustin , "Survival Rerreat Safe Disrance

from City," Modern Sunnoal Blog, july 26, 2010,

hnp://mod ernsurvivalblog .com/retreat-líving/

Sllrvival-rerreat-safe-d isrance-fro m-city/.

31 Scott L. , "A Rural Community Retrea t ," post

o n Surv ivalBlog. com, May 15, 2012, www.sur

viva Iblog.co m/201 2/ 05/ a-rura I-community­

retreat-by-scott -l.html .

32 Simon Sebag Montefíore, [erusalem: Tbe Biograpby (2011) , pp. 7 , 49.

33 Ton y Long, "Aug. 29, 1949: First Soviet

Atornic Test Stuns West," Wired, Aug . 29, 2007,

WWVi.wired .com/science/ di scoveries/ne ws/

2007/08/dayintec h_0829 .

About the Author Peter Katel is a ca Researcher contributing writer who previously reported on Haiti and Latin America for Time and Newsweek andcovered the Southwest for newspapers in New Mexico. He has received severaJ joumaJism awards, including the Bartolomé Mitre Award for coverage of drug trafficl<ing, from the Inter-American Press Association. He holds an AB. in university studies from the University of New Mexico. His re­cent reports include "Mexico's Future" and "3D Printing:'

34 Quoted in Kenneth D. Rose , One Nation Un­

derground: Tbe FaI10ut Sbelter inAmerican Cul­

ture (2001). Except where otherwíse indicated, aUmaterial in mis subseetion is drawn from Rose . 3S Quoted in 1bid.; B. Wayne Blanchard , "Amer­

ica n Civil Defense 1945-1984: The Evolutíon

of Prograrns and Policies," Federa l Emergen cy

Management Agency,1985, pp. 8-9, hnp:/ /rrain

ing.fem a.gov/EMIweb/edu/docsjBlan chard%20­%20A merican%20Civil%20D efense%201945­

1984.pdf. 36 "H ísro rical Nationa l Population Estimares:

july 1, 1900 ro july 1, 1999," U.S. Census Bu­

reau, 2000,www.ceI1SllS.gov/poplllation!estimares/ natíon/ popclockest.txt. 37 Paul R Ehrlích, Tbe Population Bomb (1968);

Paul R Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich, "The Pop­

ulation 80mb Revisited ," Electronic fou rnal o/

Sustainable Detelopmeru, 2009, www.popula

tionmed ia .org!wp-conten t/ u ploa ds/ 2009l07/

Population-Boml:>-Revisited-Paul-Ehrlich-20096.pcIf. . 38 "Americas Doom Industry, Paul Boyer (inter­

view), Frontl ine, (background for p rogram aired

Nov. 22, 1998), www. pbs .org/wgbh/pages/ front

line/ shows/ apocalypse/expl a nation/ doo m

ind ustry.hrml. 39 Quoted in "Apoca lypse" Frontline, Nov. 22, 1998 , WW\V.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/ frontl íne/ shows/apocalypse/etc/scripthrrnl; Peter Apple­

borne, "jerr)r Falwe ll, Lead ing Religiou s Con­

se rva tive, D les,' Tbe New York Times, May 15,

2007, www. nytimes.com/2007/05/ 15/obimaries/

15cnd-falwelJ.htmJ?p agewan ted=all . 40 Quoted in Wayn e King, "Fearing Soc iery's

ColIapse , 'Surv ivalists' Cach e Goods,' Tbe Neto

York Times, j an. 15, 1981, www.n ytim cs.com/

198 1/01/1 5/ us/feariing-soc iery-s-collapse -su r vívalísts-cache-goods.htrnl. 41 Don o berdorfer.rU.S. Approves Pla n ro

Relocate Cítízens in Nuc lea r War Threat ,' Tbe Wash ingto n Post, March 30, 1982, p . Al. ·j2 "Reaga n's Star Wars ," Co ld War : A Brief

History, Atomic Archive, undated, www.aromic

arch ive .com/H istory/ coldwar/page20.shtml ;

"srar Wars,- Intem et Movie Data Base , undat ed,

www.imdb.com/title/UOO76759/. 43 Quoted in Sreven R \\7eisman, "Reagan Pro­

poses New Way to Block Missiles ," 7be New

York Times, March 24, 1983, hnp:// parrners.ny

times.com/library/ nationaVscience/032483missüe­

det:-speec h.hrml. 44 Barry Sussman "Free ze Support Grows

Slightly Alter War Show: ' 7be Washington Post, Nov. 23, 1983, P Al. 45Quored in WiIliam j. Broad, "Econo mic Col­

la pse Tied tO Arom War," 7be New York Times ,

june 21,1987, v.'WW.nylimes .com/1 987/06/ 21/

688 CQ Researcher

us/ economic-colla pse-tied-to-arom-war,html> pagewantedealI&src=pm . 46 Quoted in Phil McCom bs, "Meet the Whil ­

neys: They're Ready," Tbe Washington Post,

j an. 18, 1984, p. Bl. 47 Peter Steinfels, "Revelation : Scrípt for Cult ,'

Tbe New York Times, April 25, 1993, www.ny

limes.com/1993/04/25/ us/ reve lalion-scrip l-for­cu lt-apoca lypse .htrnl: j írn YardJey, "A Special

Counse l Finds Government Fault.less al Waco ,"

Tbe New York Times, july 22, 2000, www.ny

limes.com/200ü/07/2 2/ us/ a-special-counsel-finds­

government-faultless-at-waco.htrnl,jim McGee

and William Claibome, "The Transformation of

the Waco 'Messiah,' " Tbe Washington Post, May

9, 1993, p. Al. 48 joh n Kifner, "The Gun Netwo rk : McVeigh's

World," 7be New York Times,july 5, 1995, www.

nyt im es .co m/1 995/ 07/ 0S/us/ gun-network­mcveigh-s-world-s¡jed al-rep ort-bomb-suspea­

fell-home-riding-gun.htmJ?pagewant ed=alJ&src

=pm; Leonard Zeskind, "Tentacles of Hale

From a Racist's Legacy,' Los Angeles Times,

Aug. 5, 2002, Pan 2, p. 11. 49 Quoted in Serge Kov aleski, "A Show of

Strength for MiJ itia Movernent,' Tbe Wash­

ington Post, Sept. 24, 1995, p. A6.

50 Iauríe Garrett, "Ru naway Diseases; And lile

Human Hand Behind Thern," Ioreig n Ajfa irs,

j anuary-February, 1998; laurie Garrerr,"The Next

Pandemic?" Foreign Affairs, july-August 2005. 51 For background, see Kathy Koch, "Y2K DiJem­

ma,' G:Q Researdier, Feb. 19, 1999, pp. 137-160. 52 Bam ab y J. Feder, "Doo rnsayer Push es y tdr

2000 Panic Button With O ld Data," 7b e New

York Times, Aug . 22, 1999, p. A31.

53 Bamaby J. Feder, "Smooth 2000 Transi tio n

Pu zzles Expe rts," 17Je New York Times, j an. 9,

2000, p. A18, www.nyt imes.com/ 2000/ 01/091 us/ smootll-2000-1ransilion-p uzzles-experts.htmJ.

54 "H istory of rhe pre pper," websíte discus­

sion thread, Suroival Cache, Feb. 10, 2012,

www.survivalcach e .co m/forums/ showthread. ph p?I214-The-histo ry-ot~ lhe-pre ppe r.

55 Chuck Raasch , "For 'p rep pe rs,' eve ry day

could be doo msday," USA Today, Nov. 13, 2012,

vo/ww.u saloday.co m!slory/news/nal ion/ 2012/

11/1 2/ for-preppers-eve ry-day-eould-be-doo ms

da y/ 1701151/. 56 Lise Olsen, "5 years afte r Katrina, storm's

dealh 1011 remains a myslery," 7be Houston

Chronicle, Aug. 30, 2010, www.chron.com/

news/nalion-world/article/ 5-ye-ars-after-Katrina­slorm-s-death~loJJ -remains-1;89464. php . For

backgroun d , see Pamela M. Prah, "Disas le r

Preparedness ," CQ Researche1~ No v. 18, 200S,

pp. 981-1004.

Disasterpreparer.com, hrtpz/ dísasterpreparer.corn. Website o f p repper Arthur T. Bradley, co ntaíns detailed informatíon on types of disasters and how lO prepare for each.

Federal Emergeney Management Ageney, Ready Campaign, FEMA/DHS, 500 C S!., s.w, Suite 714, Was hinglo n , D C 20472; 800-62 1-3362; ready@fema.go v. Pre ­paredness síte mainta ined by FEMA a nd the Departrnent of Homeland Security; incl udes ad vice o n building a n e merge ncy 'kit.

Fernando Aguirre blog, httpi/ / ferfal.blogspot.com. Blog maintained by Argentine prepper, who writes on personal protection and offers preppe r-related product reviews.

National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Mailman School o f Public Health, Co lumbia Universiry, 215 W. 12; th St., 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10027; 646-845 ­2300; www.ncdp.mailman.colum bia .edu/index.html. Uníve rsíry th ink ta nk that pro­vides access lO wi d e varíery of research o n catastrophic events a nd recovery.

Public Health Matters blog, U.S. Ce nte rs for Disease Cont ro l a nd Preventíon, . 1600 Clifton Road, Atlarua, CA 30333; 800-232-6348; hrtpz/blogs.cdc.gov/ pu blichealth matters/ category/ preparedness/. Blog that cove rs wide varíery of p repare d ness to pics, incl uding d ísaster mea sures for famiJies of c hild re n wi th special needs.

Zombie Squad, P.O. Box 63 124 , S!. Louis , 1\10.; www.zomb iehunters.org. Prepper site that provides access lo discussion forums on wide varíery of preparedness matrers,

57 Eric Lípton, el al. , "Breakdowns Markcd j'at.1l

From Hurricane !O Anarchy," Tbe New York Times,

Sept.Tl, 2005,\vww.nyt imes.com/200S/09/11/ natíonal/ nationalspecial/l l res po nse.html?page ­

wantedeall. 58 Quoted in Spe ncer Hsu, "Katrina Report Spreads Blame,' 7be Washington Post, Feb. 12,

2006, www.washingtonpost.com/ w p-dyn/ con

len t!article/ 2006/02/11/AR2006021101409.htmJ. 59 Garrett, "The Next Pandemic?" op. cit., p. 3. 60 Quoted in Melody McD on ald , "Da llas-Fort Wor!h's 'modern survivalists' are read y for lay­

o ffs - o r war,' Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April S, 2009, p. Bl. 61 Quoted in j ack Chang, "Maya Prophecy

Spa rks Dread, Celebration Worldw ide ," Dec.

11, 2012, htl p:/ /bigstory.ap.org/artlc1e/mayan­pro phecy-sparks -dread-celebration-world wide.

62 tua ; Patrio ticxtab ll ist, "Re: More Dr ought ,"

More Drought thread , American Preppers Net­work , Aug. 10, 2012, www.arnericanp reppers

networ k.riet!v iewtopi c.php?f=634&1=34798&p=

307748&hilil=c1ima le+c hange#p307748. 63 "US. Energy Sector Vulnerabílitíes lO Climate

Change,' op. cit., p. i.

64For background,see jennifer Wee ks , "Coasta l

Develo pm enl, " CQ Researcher, Feb. 22, 2013,

pp . 181-204.

65 Q uo led in j ohn Schwanz, "Amid Sloml Re­

covery, Life-and-Dealh Sto ries From School:

Why No Safe Room lO Run To?" 7be New York

Times, May 22, 2013, W\vw. nytimes.com/2013/

OS/22/ us/she lle r-req üirements-res isled -in -lo r

nado-a lley.htrnl ypagewantede all , Mann y Fer­

nandez , "O klahorna Cam pus , Ravage d by a

To ma do, Draws Atrentíon to Storm Shelters,"

7b e New York Times, j un e 3, 2013, www.ny

limes.co m/2013/ 06/ 03/ us/ oklah oma-campu s­shows-value-of-slorm-shelters .htmJ.

66 WiIJiam Simpson, "Prepper Power! The Ad­

vantage of Hydroel ectricity," Prepper fournal,

ApriJ 4, 2013, www.theprepperjournal.corn/

2013/04/04/pre ppe r-powerl 67 "U.S. Energy secto r VulnerabiJities lO Cli­

mate Change," op. cit., pp. 2-3. 68 "Clíma te Cha nge Impacts on the Electric

Power Systern in rhe Weslem Un ited States,'

Argonne Natíonal Lab,undated, wwwdis.anl.gov/

news/WECCClimaleChan ge.hlml. 69 Quoted in T. L. Stanle y, "The end is com­

ing . . . lO prim e-lime TV," Cbicago Tribune , july 30, 2012, p. Cl. 70 Ibid.

71 Rose, op. cit. (Kind le edition, no page hum­

be rs noted).

72 "Zo mbie Preparedness," u.s.Centers for Dis­

ease Control and Preventío n, Sept. 27, 2012,

www.cdc.gov/ phpr/ zombi es.htm. 73 'Whal is Zombie Squad?" undated, W\VW.

zombiehunters.org/whatiszs. php. 74 Kenji E. Kushida , 'j apan's Fukushima Nuclear

Disaster: Narralive , Analysis and Reco mm en­da tions ," Waller H. Sho renslein Asia-Pacific

Resea rch Cenler, Stanford University, 2012, hnp:l/

iis-db.stanfo rd .ed u/pubs/23762I.Japa nsJ uku shi ma_N uclear_Disasle r.pdf.

Aug. 2, 2013 689

Bibliograp----=l-hy_----'--­Selected Sources

Books

Aguirre, Fernando, Surviving tbe Economic Collapse, self-published, 2009.

An Argentine prepper now living in Ireland distills lessons from living through an economic implosion in Argentina.

. Bradley, Arthur T., Dlsaster Preparedness for EMP At­tacks and Solar Storms, self-published, 2012.

A prepper with a day job as an electrical engineer at NASA explains the science of natural and man-made disasters strik­ing the power grid and how to survive them.

Redlener, Irwin, Americans at Risk: W1:ry We Are Not Prepared for Megadisasters and Wbat We Can Do Now, Knopf, 2006.

A physícían who is one of the country's leading disaster­recovery experts warns that individuals, along with govern­ment agencies at a11 levels, have not taken measures to get ready for sudden catastrophe.

Rose, Kenneth D., One Nation Underground: Tbe Fall­out Sbelter in American Culture, New York University Press, 2001.

A hístory professor at California State University at Chico chronieles fallout shelter constructíon duringthe Cold War.

Articles

Arquilla, John, "Panetta's Wrong About a 'Cyber-Pearl Harbor,' " Foreign Policy, Nov. 19, 2012, www.foreign policy.com/articles/2012/11/19/panettas_wro~abouCa_

cyber_pearCharbor. A professor of defense analysis at the U.S. Naval Post­

graduate School challenges the former defense secretary's \Xforld War II metaphor but agrees that cyber-attacks are on the increase and pose a threat.

Baldwin, Jonathan, "Disaster Proof Your Internet," In The Tank blog, New America Foundation, Feb. 8, 2013, http://inthetank.newamerica.nctjblog/2013/02/disaster­proof-your-internet.

A field analyst for the centrist foundation's Open Technol­ogy Instítute reports on how a Brooklyn-based Internet net­work remained operational during a massíve storm.

Dutton, Audrey, "Disaster preparation ís a growing mar­ket for sorne Idaho businesses," Tbe Idabo Statesman, Feb. 17, 2013, www.idahostatesman.eom/2013/02/17/ 2455923/catastrophe-a-growing-market.html.

A rura l" state w íth a strong Mormon tradition is seeing a boom in preparedness-supply busínesses, Idaho's leading newspaper reports.

Fletcher, Ed, a 'Preppers' ready for the end of the world,"

690 CQ Researcher

Merced Sun-Star, May 12,2013, www.rnercedsunstar.com/ 2013/05/12/3004429/preppers-ready-f{)r,.the-end-of.html.

A California newspaper provides an introduction ro the prepper movement.

Johnson, Alyssa, ''Weather preppers," Times Record News (Wichita Falls, Texas), April 14,2013, www.timesreeord news.eom/news/2013/apr/14jweather-preppersj?partner= RSS.

A newspaper in a cíty hit by a deadly tomado in 1979 re­ports on a clisaster-preparedness expo organized byan inter­faith group of ministers.

Kyle, Sarah Jane, "Red Cross seeks to bring emergency readiness into the norm with preparedness parties," Tbe Coloradan (Fort Collins, Colo.), April 3, 2013, www.eolo rado~eom/article/20130403/NEWS01/304030058/Red­

Cross-seeks-bring-emergency-readiness-into-nonn-prepaied ness-parties.

In a state beíng hit hard by major forest fires, prepared­ness experts are using Tupperware Party-style eventsto teach basics on disaster readiness.

O'Brien, Keith, "How to Survive Societal COllapse in Suburbia," Tbe New York Times Magazine, Nov. 16, 2012, www.nytimes.eom/2012/11/18/magazinejhow-to-survíve­societal-collapse-in-suburbia.html?pagewanted=all.

The magazine reports on the prepper movement's jetti­soning of association with survivalism.

Walker, jesse, "Stop Demonizing Preppers," Reason.com, Feb. 20, 2013, http://reason.eom/archives/2013/02/20/ stop-dernonizing-preppers.

A writer for a libertarian magazine points a finger at arti­eles that, she argues, miscast preppers as extremist misfits, ignoring the movement's polítícal and socjal d íversíty.

Reports

"Electrie Grid Vulnerability: Industry Responses Reveal Security Gaps," staffs of U.S. Reps. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and Henry A. Waxmao., D-Calif., May 21, 2013, http://markey.house.gov/sites/markey.house.gov/files/docu ments/Markey"/o20Grid%20Report_05.21.13.pdf.

A survey of a small segment of U.S. electrícity providers shows weak defenses against hacker assaults and other auacks.

"U.S. Energy Sector Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and Extreme Weather," U.S. Department of Energy, July .2013, http://energy.gov/sites/prod/f"Iles/2013/07/f2/20130716­Energy%20Sector%20Vulnerabilities%20Report.pdf.

A detailed examination of the energy industry shows strains posed by clirnate change and weáther events, the depart­rnent concludes, It urges massive investrnent in energy in­frastructure to strengthen the system.

The Next Step_:_ Additional Articles from Current Periodicals

Disaster Scenarios

Carrington, Damian, "Carb ón Bubb1e Will P1unge the World into Another Financial Crisis - Report," Tbe Guardian,April 18,2013, www.guardian.co.uk/environ ment/2013/apr/19/carbon-bubb1e-f"mandal-crash-crisis.

Experts warn that an overvaluatíon of fossil fuels could lead to an econorníc crisis.

Lovett, Richard, "What if the Biggest Solar Storm on Record Happened Today?," National Geograpbic News, March 2, 2011, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ news/2011/03/110302-solar-f1ares-5un~0rms-earth-<langer­carrington-event-scíence/.

Solar actív íry in the next couple of years could creare dís­ruptive electrícal disturbances, scíentísts say.

Surnmers, Juana, "NewtGingrinch Warns EMP Could End it All," Politico, June 19, 2013, www.polrtico.com/ story/2013/06/electromagnetic-pulse-newt-gingrich-emp­attack-93002.htm1.

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich ad­dressed the Electromagnetíc Pulse Caucus on the danger of EMPs to Ameríca's power grid and electronícs.

Emergency Preparedness

Cooper, Max, "After the Fall: Local "Preppers" Prepare for the Worst," Mountain Xpress.com, Dec, 19, 2012, www.mountainx.com/article/47440.

Ashvílle, N.C., res ídents share tips on how to "prepare to live without systerns ."

Greene, Richard Al1en, "Readyfor a Zombie Apoai.lypse? CDC Has Advice," CNN, May 19, 2011, www.cnn.com/ 2011/HEALTH/05/19/zombie.warning/index.htmI.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses a novel ploy to ·inform the public on disaster preparedness.

Preppers

Feuer, Alan, "The Preppers Next Door," The New York Times, Jan. i6, 2013, www.nytimes.comj2013/01/27/ny regionjthe-doomsday-preppers-of-new-york.htmI?page wanted=all.

New York Cíty has a prepper communíry that's large , di­verse and growíng.

Murphy,Tim,"PreppersAre Getting Ready for the Barack­alypse," MotberJónes, JanuaryjFebruary 2013, www.mother jones.com/politics/2012/11/preppers-survivalist-dooms­day-obama. .

Presídent Obama's second term has many preppers fear­ing the worst and rampíng up their preparedness efforts,

Zirnmer, Ben, "How to Talk Líke a Doomsday Prepper," Tbe Boston Globe, Dec. 30, 2012, www.bostonglobe.com/ ideas/2O12/12/30jhow-taIk-like-doomsday-prepper/n5P4 CeiU4Hj7QB09k3SygN/story.htmI.

Preppers have developed a repertoire of survívor slang such as KlSS (keep it simple, stupid) and a Good ("get out of Dodge") kit.

Stockpiling

Ellis, BIake, "My Doomsday Tab: $130K 'on Bunkers, Guns and More," CNN Money, March 13, 2012, http:// money.cnn.com/2012/03/13/pf/doomsday-cost/índex.htm.

Some preppers have spent thousands of dolJars preparing for doomsday.

Kirchner, Lauren, "Stock Up Now Before It's Too Late," S1ate, Dec. 3, 2012, www.slate.oorn/articles/life/food/2012/ 12/shelCreliance_survival~ourmecand_survivalism_s_

new_softer_sell.htm1. Companies are cropping up inthe United States to supply

survívalísts w íth a wide range of emergency-preparedness products.

Young, Robín, "Mitt Romney's Faith Draws Atteotion to Mormon Food Storage," Here and Now, WBUR radio piece and article, March 15, 2012, http://hereandnow. wbur.org/2012/03/15/romney-mormon-food

The Church of jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints encourages Mormons to stock a three-month supply of food and pro­vides emergency relief in disasters through íts network of bishops' storehouses.

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