re: Civil Defense program
A broad-spectrum civil defense program, including emergency supplies, would be useful for many natural or other disaster scenarios. To make it effective against nuclear fallout, or the possibility of a reactor incident, would not take much more money.
I agree that private citizens should ideally have the ultimate responsibility, but somehow when the fewmets hit the fan out in the real world, I see a lot of people lying on their backs, kicking their feet, and squalling that the Great White Father in Washington didn't come down and personally save their backsides.