30 December 1968: Memorandum for the Minister - NORAD and ABM Defence

Debate about Canada’s ABM policy raged on until the end of the year. In this memo to the Minister, senior Disarmament Advisor E.L.M. Burns reaffirmed his department’s critiques of a draft memorandum to the Cabinet, which had been written by the Office of Politico-Military Affairs. The senior advisor claimed that the building of ABM defences would escalate the nuclear arms race, and he recommended that the Minister oppose the command and control proposal. Canadian involvement, the advisor argued, “would certainly detract from what influence Canada might have in disarmament negotiations, encouraging other participating nations to consider us as a mere satellite of the United States in disarmament matters.”

To punctuate his concerns, the advisor included the original December 24^th memo from Disarmament, which argued that Canadian participation in weapons system would create major issues for arms control, the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.