The National Defense Executive Reserve (NDER) is composed of executives recruited from civil life to serve with the Federal Government in times of national emergency. The NDER's primary objective is to maintain a readiness capability within its units to respond to emergency preparedness missions assigned their parent departments and agencies. The study focuses on the readiness capabilities of five emergency executive organizations in the four functional areas of recruitment, selection, orientation, and training. The five organizations used are the Economic Stabilization Unit of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, the Office of Emergency Transportation, the Rail Unit of Interstate Commerce Commission, and the Office of Oil and Gas Unit and the Defense Electric Power Administration of the Department of the Interior.