Salute!
Great book, The Penetrators.
I was in Air Defense Command during that time period and the political Skybolt theme of the book was appropriate. We later developed the SRAM, but it was not the deterrent the Skybolt represented. I also understand the British resentment. I should remind all that at the time we had a Secretary of Defense that had several problematic programs, the two I recall most vividly was the TFX and Skybolt.
As an active interceptor pilot at the time in the VooDoo, I can tell you that a good ECM troop in the Buff could create havoc. I chased a B-58 across the state of South Dakota one night in 1967 and we could never get a satisfactory lock-on for the Genie system and I finally used the IR Falcon missiles with our IR steering. , We could get good enough range to ensure the missile had a high pK. This was part of a a large exercise we would run every year over the U.S. I don't think the RCAF was in that one, although we had many in which I flew north from Grand Forks over Lake Winnipeg far enough to see Hudson Bay, heh he, while our RCAF friends went even further north waiting for the Bears and Bisons.
So the attack seems plausible, although I suspect there would have been more losses than the book asserts.
Gums sends...