Evening star., 1955-06-08
BY CECIL HOLLAND

As the Royal Canadian Air
Force North Star" transport
put down at Edmonton, you saw
huge CHA cargo planes in the
parking area.
You're apt to see United States
Air Force planes anywhere in
the world. But these had a
special significance for a group
Of NATO newspapermen, includ-
ing representatives Of Western
Germany, on a Know Your
Allies tour Of Canada.
They were reminders of a grim
and hurried undertaking. This
is the building of an electronics
shield across Canada, far beyond
the Arctic Circle, for the protec-
tion of the United States and
Canada from a surprise enemy
attack
This will be the distant early
warning systematic DEW line.
When it is completed Git is hoped
by 195D, it will stretch from
Alaska to Greenland across the
vast wastelands of the frozen
North. It will be one of three
radar lines to the north, the
others being the Mid-Canada
line, now under construction,
and the Pinetree line in South
ern Canada. already completed.
Sense Of Urgency
The American cargo planes at
the Edmonton field. you are told.
have been on a late-season run
hauling supplies and equipment
for the DEW line. There and
elsewhere In the NATO news
papermen's trip you sensed an
urgency in the undertaking.
There are solid reasons for
that urgency, you have been told.
The NATO newspapermen from
10 European countries and the
United States arrived in Edmon-
ton after q nonstop. 1,800-mile
flight from Ottawa, and fresh
in the minds of all were the
briefings received there from
Canadian defense officials.
They had been reminded that
the Russian development of
nuclear weapons and aircraft
capable of delivering them over
the North Pole to targets in the
United States and Canada had
introduced into NATO thinking
and planning a new element only
inadequately understood outside
military circles. This is the di-
rect Soviet threat to North
America and the whole indus
trial and retaliatory base on
which the NATO system of de-
tense has been erected.
Polar Watchdogs
Consequently, there has come
about the need to provide in
Canada a system Of warning and
defense lover the top Of the
world" that would help protect
the industrial potential Of the
United States and safeguard the
retaliatory power Of the NATO
countries as represented in the
United States Strategic Air
Force.
Most of us, Americans as well
as Europeans, have been inclined
to regard the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, and its
supporting military forces. as
something for the defense pri-
marily of Western Europe. But
the advances of Soviet air power
has changed all that and en-
phasized the two-way nature OF
NATO-something that was
brought home to the NATO
newspapermen during the tour.
That was emphasized in the
Ottawa briefings. l.. B. Pearson,
the Secretary of State for Ex-
ternal Affairs, said that in NATO
there was an increasing con-
cern over the threat to North
America of Soviet air power. De-
fense Minister r. o. Campney
called the defense of this conti-
nent vital to the whole NATO
effort. Giving strictly the mill
tary viewpoint. Gen. Charles
Foulkes, chairman of the Chiefs
Of Staff, said the United States
Strategic Air Force and the
means Of protecting it were the
best deterrents of war.
Hence the haste in building
the warning system; hence the