19 September 1967: Washington, DC to External - Canada-U.S. Cooperation on ABMs?

The Canadians closely monitored the fallout from McNamara’s speech. In this message, the Canadian Embassy provided updates to External Affairs following McNamara’s announcement on ABM deployment. Notably, they informed Ottawa about a headline in The Washington Post. The story showed an unofficial map with a potential radar center located in the North Bay Area. In this light, the State Department had prepared responses to potential questions concerning ABM deployment cooperation with Canada.

The State Department noted that there had been “no indication from Canada that they would want to participate” in an ABM program and that there were no plans to have ABMs in Canada. However, the Department also wanted to “attempt to avoid categorical assertion that in no circumstances could ABM system come under control of NORAD,” indicating that the U.S. was holding out hope for Canadian cooperation. 

Ultimately, this message sheds light on the uncertainty of Canada-U.S. cooperation on ABMs.