review. Safeguard The review was completed on 14 March 1969 and announced in a lengthy speech made by Nixon and various DoD advisers. The entire concept was reviewed and all possibilities considered fresh. Among these, the idea of a heavyweight Nike-X-like system was considered, but Defense Secretary Melvin Laird apparently came to the same conclusion as McNamara before him, stating that the protection the system offered simply didn't justify the cost; However, they disagreed with the concept of a light city defense as well. There was no reason to deploy a system that only worked under contrived circumstances, especially as accepting them as possibilities meant that the enemy was ignoring your deterrent. If that was the case, why have missiles at all? The real issue becomes ensuring they cannot ignore your deterrent, and it was this concept that Nixon chose. Instead of deploying the ABM system to protect cities, the new deployment would protect the missile bases themselves, ensuring that no limited attack could be contemplated. This did not have to be perfect, or even close to it; Operation Safeguard was a two-layer defense system. The long-range Spartan missile would attempt interception outside the Earth's atmosphere. The missile's long range allowed protection of a large geographic area. If the Spartan failed to intercept the incoming offensive missile, the high performance and high speed but short ranged Sprint missile would attempt an interception within the atmosphere. Both missiles used nuclear warheads, and they relied on destroying or damaging the incoming warhead with radiation rather than heat or blast. The Spartan carried a weapon with a yield; the Sprint in the range. The envisioned sequence was as follows: Enemy launch detected by Defense Support Program satellites, sensing the hot infrared exhaust of the ICBM booster. While in the mid-course phase, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System radars in the far north would detect the incoming warheads. As the warheads approached (but while still in outer space) the Safeguard long-range Perimeter Acquisition Radar (PAR) would detect them, providing filtered information to the shorter-range and more precise Missile Site Radar (MSR). While the incoming warhead came within range of the MSR, the associated computer systems would calculate intercept trajectories and launch times. Original deployment plan Plans were made in the late 1960s to deploy Safeguard systems in three locations, Whiteman AFB, Missouri, Malmstrom AFB, Montana, and Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, to protect important