To Ring the Bell

Canada and the U.S. last week took two important steps to enclose their common backyard. On the Arctic Circle, the DEW line (for Distant Early Warning), a 3,000-mile electronic tripwire, was switched on; for the first time, Canada and the U.S. could feel reasonably secure against a Pearl Harbor attack from the north. At the same time, Washington and Ottawa announced that the two nations' air forces would form a joint command (ADCANUS) for continental defense. ADCANUS will be commanded by Air Force General Earle E. Partridge at the U.S. air-defense center at Colorado Springs, Colo. Its deputy commander in chief: Air Marshal Roy Slemon, until now Canada's chief of air staff.

With the DEW line in operation--four hours as the jet bomber flies from Toronto, New York and Chicago--the most important gap is closed in the radar warning system strung across the top and down both sides of the continent. In case of attack, the DEW line will give a U.S. retaliatory force time to take to the air, and Airmen Partridge and Slemon will look to two southerly radar systems to track the invaders: the $200 million Canadian-built Mid-Canada line, due to start operating by summer's end, and the Pinetree Aircraft Control and Warning network that virtually encloses the U.S.

The U.S.-financed DEW line cost $500 million and more than a score of lives, mostly fliers who crashed in the gigantic airlift of men and materials to the several dozen radar sites. Last week the main builder, Western Electric Co., turned the line over to International Telephone and Telegraph Corp., which will operate it. Manning the remote outposts are 1,000 technicians, nearly 80% of them Canadians. The DEW-liners are confident that no invading aircraft can pass them undetected. In preliminary trials, even birds set the alarm bells ringing.

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