Civil defense has the attributes of a system and the techniques of systems evaluation have been applied in the development of policy and programs since the middle 1950s. Advances have been made in the state-of-the-art of civil defense and of systems evaluation. Application of systems evaluation techniques to civil defense is reviewed. A modified analytic framework is presented with definitions, graphic aids, and a qualitative demonstration of the method and of its application to other activities such as: operational planning, organization, training, and so on.