With the end of the Cold War, the influence of the two senators from Maine was not enough to save the operation and the Alaska and southern-facing sites were canceled, the two so-far completed western sectors and the eastern ones were turned off and placed in "warm storage," allowing them to be used again if needed.[9] By 2002, the west coast facilities were downgraded to "cold storage" status, meaning that only minimal maintenance was performed by a caretaker.