Part One: Necessity

Before 1959, nuclear overflights were cleared by the Minister of National Defence and the RCAF through the WISER system, which facilitated American-Canadian policy consultations. These clearances were complicated by both logistics and the necessity of clearing each operation individually with the Canadian government. For a time, the system functioned well enough due to the lower number of operations overflying Canada; however, a more routine system of overflights would require a different policy.