[2] After the USAF began to develop the "1954 interceptor" to counter expected Soviet bomber advances, the Army deployed M-33 Fire Control for AA artillery in 1950.

When the Korean War broke out, the USAF established a direct telephone line between the Air Force Command Post in the Pentagon and the White House.

[5] The following year, the Air Force created Air Defense Command (ADC) at Ent AFB, while Army Antiaircraft Command (ARAACOM) was staffed in the nearby Antlers Hotel (Colorado) and the Priority Permanent System began replacing the post-war Lashup Radar Network.

"[6] In response to the "enemy capabilities to inflict massive damage on the continental United States by surprise air attack", the National Security Council formulated President Dwight Eisenhower's "The New Look" strategy in 1953–1954.

[7] Thus the major purpose of air defense was not actually to shoot down enemy bombers, but merely gain time for SAC to respond.

[8] Under "political pressures for greater unity and effectiveness in the national air defense system", the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Navy Admiral Radford, disagreed with the USAF.

"[2] CONAD was established effective September 1, 1954, primarily to defend the continental United States against air attack.

[14][15] for development of a "national air defense network",[16] A late 1955 CONAD plan for USAF Semi-Automatic Ground Environment control of Army Nike missiles caused an interservice dispute [2] but later in 1956 the Secretary of Defense approved CONAD's plan for USAF units at computerized Army nuclear bunkers.

On February 13, 1956, CINCONAD advocated "an eventual combined organization…of the Air Defense Force of all countries and services in and adjacent to North America."

At the same time, Canadian officers agreed that the command's primary purpose would be "early warning and defense for SAC's retaliatory forces.

[24] When the ICBM threat had sufficiently developed, the June 1959 Continental Air Defense Program reduced the number of Super Combat Centers to 7, then all were cancelled on March 18, 1960.

[25] The Canadian nuclear bunker started at RCAF Station North Bay was completed in 1963 with vacuum tube computers.

The Seaward Extensions also included airborne early warning aircraft and two Texas Tower radars off the northeastern coast of the United States.

[33] BOMARC alerts ended in 1972, and the post-Vietnam war drawdown closed most CONUS NIKE missile sites during the 1974 Project Concise.