I think it was a lunatic idea. We're very fortunate the Soviets didn't launch a preemptive strike before we installed and coordinated those systems and gained experience with operating them. The whole plan (if there was indeed a plan as you suggest) depended on the Kremlin reacting with great restraint precisely when they were under the greatest pressure, intimidated, with their backs to the wall. We were depending on them acting rationally in the face of irrationality on our part.

No, I have an alternative explanation that I feel fits the facts much better. We built those systems because we could, out of sheer technological exuberance and hubris, with maybe a little inter-service rivalry thrown in. And of course, there were the undeniable domestic political and economic benefits. Check out how the last paragraph in the article you linked to proudly lists the corporate and political constituencies who benefited at the taxpayer's expense.