The Experimental Civil Defense

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For a full list of civil defense programs, see civil defense by country.

The ECD Headquarters

The Experimental Civil Defense, (abbreviated as ECD, or The ECD), is a Civil Defense program enacted in 1955 by the United States Military after growing concern from accidents at top secret nuclear testing sites. The ECD’s priority is to protect sensitive information regarding nuclear technology and research by disarming, dismantling, or conducting searches for experimental equipment. Clean up operations are also conducted if needed. The ECD is “Highly effective, protecting both the Military, and our beautiful country, from toxic materials and the prying eyes of our nuclear opponents...” [citation needed] The ECD houses several pieces of prototype and experimental equipment at its headquarters in Tucson, Arizona. The ECD is notable for its involvement in several incidents and accidents. While the ECD has claimed responsibility for a few of these mishaps, program leader Dan Bombsite stated during a 1961 press conference "The United States Military uses us as a scapegoat whenever they can... If I had a cigar for every Broken Arrow incident, I'd be smoking 32 cigars." [citation needed]

Documentation for early accidents in nuclear energy and weaponry experiments is scarce, but some records have been kept by the department's secretary, Mary-Jack "Jack of all trades" Jack. This includes redacted documents on the Lady Godiva Project, as well as redacted files on the 1948 Human Pit experiments.

List of notable incidents and accidents by year:
• 1959-The Lady Godiva Incident, as part of the Lady Godiva Project
• 1960-The rouge Atlas-X Incident
• 1962-The theft of a nuclear propulsion jet engine prototype

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