This doctoral thesis presents a historical study of the development of the semi-automatic control and reporting system Stril 60 for the Swedish air force during the 1950s. The theoretical points of reference are taken from a literature on socio-technological systems combined with models of social networks and their importance to the development of society.  In a wider and more general sense, the thesis also deals with the Swedish policy of neutrality during the cold war which is investigated from a history of science and technology perspective. Through an investigation of the establishment of the system, informal networks within the public administration which have contributed to the shaping of Swedish security policy beyond the official government rhetoric are reconstructed. The policy of neutrality gave rise to complicated and often informal structures of decision-making, especially concerning military relations with the western powers. Considerations and decisions which did not give rise to ordinary archive material, sometimes have left technological footprints which has made it possible to uncover important dimensions of the Swedish policy of neutrality through studying the military systems, their planning and actual structure. While official foreign policy aimed at creating an official image of Sweden and Swedish territory as a political and strategic free zone in the cold war, defense policy originated from the opposite scenario, namely that the possibilities not to take part in a new war in Europe was small and that the only possibility to escape defeat and occupation was to receive help from the western powers, which set the rules for Swedish war planning and military system building during the period.