WASHINGTON, March 14 [1969] —President Nixon at his news conference today referred to the Sentinel missile system as the “Safeguard system,” but Pentagon officials said the name had not officially been changed.
After Mr. Nixon used the term, officials changed the name from Sentinel to Safeguard on a chart used after the news conference by the Deputy Defense Secretary, David M. Packard.
The name Safeguard, according to Daniel Z. Henkin, acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, was coined by Mr. Nixon himself.