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With the beginning of the nuclear arms race in the late 1940s, national and state civil defense acquired a greater urgency than it had had during World War II. Despite the founding of new federal bureaus in the 1950s, authority and responsibility for civil defense remained highly decentralized. Decentralization also characterized the state civil-defense program. In 1951 the Texas legislature unanimously passed the Civil Protection Act, establishing the governor as head of the Disaster Relief Council, which was composed of the directors of the various state agencies. The state program duplicated the national in that each agency retained responsibility for its respective relief function. The governor also appointed a state coordinator of defense and disaster relief, who operated at civil defense headquarters in Austin, served as a liaison among the state agencies, and took command during emergencies. William L. McGill served as state coordinator for the first eight years of the organization's existence.
Decentralization also characterized the local level, where mayors, county judges, or locally appointed civil-defense directors received responsibility for disaster planning in their cities, towns, or counties. In the 1980s the state channeled aid-in the form of funds and training-through sixteen state disaster districts coterminous with State Highway Patrol districts. Local civil-defense organizations provided manpower-chiefly volunteers-and implemented relief plans during disasters or practice drills.
In 1963 the Office of Defense and Disaster Relief was moved from the executive department to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The Texas Disaster Act of 1975 renamed the office the Division of Disaster Emergency Services, established the governor's Disaster Emergency Services Council, and provided for greater integration of state and local civil-defense functions. In August 1981 the division, while remaining within the DPS, became the Division of Emergency Management.