While we presently look upon fallout shelters with a sense of morbid curiosity or complete disregard, their influence has outlasted their occupants. After the closure of World War Two in 1945, the initial foundations and experience of civil defense in the United States was rapidly expanded upon in 1949 with the creation of the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization, OCDM, as the military and atomic technology race between the Soviet Union and the United States showcased the risks of a nuclear exchange on the American heartland. One of the earliest and most controversial programs established by the OCDM was the fallout shelter program. The program’s efforts, and the shelters themselves, would become a focal point of public animosity towards the federal government. A growing extent of this anger was focused on the above ground nuclear weapon tests the United States was conducting until their outlawing with the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963. While there has been considerable research into the failures of civil defense and the critical response from the American public towards the department, little has been done to link fallout shelters to impacts and influences on national security. The focus of my research is understanding how the relationship between public knowledge and the fallout shelter program contributed to the questioning of national security policy and how the United States government attempted to maintain national security interests as the public perception of nuclear weapon tests shifted away from the federal policy. I argue that through federally provided information, seminars, and design competitions for fallout shelters, the American public became acutely aware of the effects of nuclear weapon tests, such as radioactive fallout, and sought to protect themselves against long-lasting damage. Overall contributing to the American public becoming increasingly skeptical of United States policy and questioning the legitimacy of its actions. This reaction highlights the importance of how federally funded programs can create public reactions that run counter to national security concerns and influence greater social discourse.