2 April 1969: Deputy Minister of National Defence to Under Secretary of State - Safeguard

In this memo to External Affairs, the Deputy Minister of National Defence attached a paper on the Safeguard ABM system, obtained by DND officials on a recent visit to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Once again, command and control issues were at stake, with NORAD portrayed as “the logical organization in which to place the operational control of future anti-missile defense.” However, the paper acknowledged that a number of issues remained unresolved and that the matter was not urgent. Therefore, “the best Canadian policy may be to await developments and possible requests or invitations from the US, rather than to press for decisions in the near future.”