Editing Safeguard Program (section)

===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;

{{cquote|When you are looking toward city defense, it needs to be a perfect or near perfect system because, as I examined the possibility of even a thick defense of cities, I have found that even the most optimistic projections, considering the highest development of the art, would mean that we would still lose 30 million to 40 million lives...<ref>{{cite book |chapter=The President's News Conference  of March 14, 1969 |title=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5x3It8ZGQOgC |date=1971 |first=Richard |last=Nixon |publisher=Federal Register Division, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration |location=Washington D. C. |page=211}}</ref>}}

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;

{{cquote|When you are talking about protecting your deterrent, it need not be perfect. It is necessary only to protect enough of the deterrent that the retaliatory second strike will be of such magnitude that the enemy would think twice about launching a first strike.{{sfn|Nixon|1971|p=211}}}}