NORAD Headquarters Building.
'North American Aerospace Defense Command' ('NORAD') is a joint organization of the
United States and
Canada that provides aerospace warning and control for
North America.
[3] It was founded on
May 12,
1958, as the 'North American Air Defense Command'. Since 1963, NORAD's main technical facility has been the
Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center in
Colorado, and for this reason NORAD is sometimes unofficially referred to as 'Cheyenne Mountain'.
NORAD's headquarters facilities in Colorado are administered by the
U.S. Air Force under the command of the
721st Mission Support Group, part of the
21st Space Wing, headquartered at
Peterson Air Force Base.
NORAD's forces consist of the Alaskan NORAD Region/
Eleventh Air Force,
Canadian NORAD Region, and
Continental NORAD Region.
Mission
"NORAD continuously provides worldwide detection, validation and warning of a ballistic missile attack on North America and maintains continental detection, validation, warning and aerospace control of air-breathing threats to North America, to include peacetime alert levels and appropriate aerospace defense measures to respond to hostile actions against North America."
[4]
History
Formation
The growing perception of the threat of long-range
Soviet strategic bombers armed with
nuclear weapons brought the U.S. and Canada into closer cooperation for air defense. While attacks from the
Pacific or
Atlantic would have been detected by
Airborne Early Warning aircraft, Navy ships, or offshore radar platforms, the
Arctic was underprotected. In the early 1950s the U.S. and Canada agreed to construct a series of
radar stations across North America to detect a Soviet attack over the Arctic. The first series of radars was the
Pinetree Line, completed in 1954 and consisting of 33 stations across southern Canada. However, technical defects in the system led to more radar networks being built. In 1957, the
McGill Fence was completed; it consisted of
Doppler radar for the detection of low-flying craft. This system was roughly 300 miles north of the Pinetree Line along the 55th parallel. The third joint system was the
Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line), also completed in 1957. This was a network of 57 stations along the 70th parallel. The systems gave around three hours warning of bomber attack before they could reach any major population center.
The
command and control of the massive system then became a significant challenge. Discussions and studies of joint systems had been ongoing since the early 1950s and culminated on August 1, 1957, with the announcement by the U.S. and Canada to establish an integrated command, the North American Air Defense Command. On September 12, operations commenced in Colorado. A formal NORAD agreement between the two governments was signed on May 12, 1958.
Cold War and false alarms
The North entrance to NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex
By the early 1960s, about 250,000 personnel were involved in the operation of NORAD. The emergence of the
intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and
submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) threat in the early 1960s was something of a blow. In response, a space surveillance and missile
warning system was constructed to provide worldwide space detection, tracking and identification. The extension of NORAD's mission into space led to a name change, the North American Aerospace Defense Command in March 2007.
From 1963, the size of the U.S. Air Force was reduced, and obsolete sections of the radar system were shut down. However, there was increased effort to protect against an ICBM attack; two underground operations centers were set up, the main one inside
Cheyenne Mountain and an alternate at
North Bay, Ontario. By the early 1970s, the acceptance of
mutual assured destruction doctrine led to a cut in the air
defense budget and the repositioning of NORAD's mission to ensuring the integrity of airspace during peacetime. There followed significant reductions in the air defense system until the 1980s, when, following the 1979
Joint US-Canada Air Defense Study (JUSCADS) the need for the modernization of air defenses was accepted—the DEW Line was to be replaced with an improved Arctic radar line called the
North Warning System (NWS); there was to be the deployment of
Over-the-Horizon Backscatter (OTH-B) radar; the assignment of more advanced fighters to NORAD, and the greater use of
Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft from
Tinker Air Force Base in
Oklahoma or
Elmendorf Air Force Base in
Alaska. These recommendations were accepted by the governments in 1985. The United States Space Command was formed in September 1985 as an adjunct but not a component of NORAD.
Even though all equipment in Cheyenne Mountain was put through a rigorous inspection, on at least two occasions, failure in its systems could have potentially caused
nuclear war. On November 9, 1979, a technician in NORAD loaded a test tape but failed to switch the system status to "test," causing a stream of constant false warnings to spread to two "
continuity of government" bunkers as well as command posts worldwide. A similar incident occurred on June 2, 1980, when a
computer communications device failure caused warning messages to sporadically flash in U.S. Air Force command posts around the world that a
nuclear attack was taking place. Both times,
Pacific Air Forces properly had their planes (loaded with nuclear bombs) in the air;
Strategic Air Command did not and took criticism because they did not follow procedure, even though the SAC command knew these were almost certainly
false alarms (as did PAC). Both command posts had recently begun receiving and processing direct reports from the various radar, satellite, and other missile attack detection systems, and those direct reports simply didn't match anything about the erroneous data received from NORAD.
Post-Cold War
At the end of the
Cold War NORAD reassessed its mission. To avoid cutbacks, from 1989 NORAD operations expanded to cover counter-drug operations, especially the tracking of
small aircraft. But the DEW line sites were still replaced, in a scaled-back fashion by the
North Warning System radars between 1986 and 1995. The Cheyenne Mountain site was also upgraded. However, none of the proposed
OTH-B radars is currently in operation.
Post-September 11 attacks
After September 11, the NORAD mission evolved to include monitoring of all aircraft flying in the interior of the United States. NORAD oversees
Operation Noble Eagle using
fighter aircraft Combat Air Patrols (CAP) under command of
First Air Force and
Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS)
E-3 Sentry aircraft under command of the 552nd
Air Control Wing. At U.S. request, NATO deployed five of its NATO AWACS aircraft to the U.S. to help NORAD in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
On July 28, 2006, military officials announced that NORAD's day-to-day operations would be consolidated, for purposes of efficiency, in an ordinary building at
Peterson Air Force Base in nearby
Colorado Springs. The mountain will be kept only as a backup in "warm standby," though fully operational and staffed with support personnel should the need arise. NORAD officials stated that the same surveillance work can be continued without the security the facility provides. They emphasized that they are no longer concerned about a halt to their operations from an intercontinental nuclear attack.
Commanders
A relatively recent photo of the command center of NORAD. Taken on 7 April 2006
The Commander of NORAD is always American and simultaneously heads
USNORTHCOM,
while the Deputy Commander is always Canadian.
Recent commanders include:
★ Gen.
Victor E. Renuart Jr.,
USAF (
March 23 2007 – )
★ Adm.
Timothy J. Keating,
USN (
5 November 2004 –
March 23 2007)
★ Gen.
Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart,
USAF (
22 February 2000 –
5 November 2004)
★ Gen.
Richard B. Myers,
USAF (
14 August 1998 –
22 February 2000)
★ Gen.
Howell M. Estes III,
USAF (August 1996 –
14 August 1998)
★ Gen.
Joseph W. Ashy,
USAF (September 1994 – August 1996)
Recent deputy commanders include:
★
Lt. General Eric A. “Rick” Findley,
CF (
July 14 2003 – )
★
Lt. General Ken R. Pennie,
CF (
August 8 2001 –
July 14 2003)
★
Lieutenant-General George Macdonald,
CF 1998-2001
★
Lt. General Donald C. MacKenzie,
CF 1983-1986
★
Air Marshall Clarence Rupert Dunlop C.B.D., SS, Croix de Guerre, D.C.L., D. Eng, B. Sc,
RCAF 1964-1967
★
Air Chief Marshall Roy Slemon,
RCAF 1958-1964
In popular culture
Fictional set of NORAD command room from the 1983 movie
WarGames. At the time of its creation, it was the most expensive single set ever constructed, costing $1 million
USD.
Christmas
NORAD comes to public attention at
Christmas, when it
tracks Santa Claus on his journey around the world delivering toys for the world's children. 2005 marked the 50th time of NORAD tracking Santa. This tradition started in 1955 when a local
Sears store in Colorado misprinted the
phone number and children thought they were calling Santa, but called CONAD (NORAD's predecessor) instead. The NORAD Christmas patrol was referenced in the book ''Stuffed Animals'' by Michael Fry and T Lewis, the fourth ''
Over the Hedge'' book.
Motion picture ''War Games''
Cheyenne Mountain was one of the settings of the
1983 motion picture ''
WarGames,'' starring
Matthew Broderick as a teenager who hacked NORAD's main computer and almost started a
nuclear war (more precisely referred to as "global thermonuclear war" in the movie).
Barry Corbin played a fictional NORAD
commanding officer, General Jack Beringer. The NORAD set of
WarGames was the most expensive single
movie set ever built up to that time, and cost roughly $1 million USD. According to the WarGames DVD commentary track, upon seeing the movie, NORAD officials remarked that they wished their facilities really were as extensive and high-tech as those depicted in the movie.
Television show ''Stargate SG-1''
Cheyenne Mountain is featured prominently in the television show ''
Stargate SG-1'', as it is the location for the fictional
Stargate Command. NORAD is mentioned occasionally as being above the Stargate, housed in sub-level 28. In the episode "
A Matter of Time," the nearest secure phone above Stargate Command is at "NORAD, main level," which appears to be sub-level 2. Note, however, that the NORAD tunnel entrance shown in the series is the South Portal, which was used only for maintenance purposes, and never used by operations staff.
Novel ''The Moon is a Harsh Mistress''
In the novel ''
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress'' by
Robert A. Heinlein, Cheyenne Mountain receives heavy bombardment from the lunar rebels to the point where the following dialogue takes place:
:"Man, I think we should stop hitting Cheyenne Mountain."
:"Why?"
:"It's not there any more."
Motion picture ''United 93''
NORAD is featured in the movie ''
United 93''. The movie portrays the
events that took place on September 11 regarding
United Airlines Flight 93 which crashed in a field in
Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Television show ''Jeremiah''
NORAD is featured in the Showtime series ''
Jeremiah'' being used as a self-contained community by the survivors of a
post-apocalyptic world.
Motion pictures ''Terminator'' series
In the
Terminator trilogy, the
AI Skynet is built for NORAD/SAC to control the strategic military systems of the United States for reasons of efficiency. Cheyenne Mountain is the core of Skynet's infrastructure.
James Bond
In the
John Gardner novel ''
For Special Services'' James Bond must prevent
SPECTRE infiltrating NORAD after drugging its staff with
ice cream doctored with a psychedelic substance.
Other media
★ In volume eight of the manga ''
Battle Angel Alita,'' Desty Nova’s laboratory is shown to be in the ruins of NORAD.
★ In the game by
Westwood Studios, the president requests confirmation from NORAD on a Soviet invasion during the opening cutscene.
★ The
Norad II is also the name of a Battlecruiser in the popular
Real-Time Strategy game
Starcraft by
Blizzard Entertainment.
★ A portion of the game
The Journeyman Project takes place in NORAD VI, an undersea missile and submarine base.
★ In the
Brazilian comic UFO Team and its spinoffs, the NORAD is supposed to host a group of superpowered individuals secretly in an underground facility.
★ On one episode of the cartoon South Park, a supercomputer Trapper Keeper wishes to absorb a supercomputer located underground of Cheyenne Mountain, the location of NORAD.
★ In the
Seinfeld episode
The Phone Message George is frustrated about not going up to his dates apartment at midnight for "coffee". When Elaine mentions that some people drink coffee that late George says "Yeah, people who work at NORAD who are on 24-hour missile watch."
See also
★
NORAD Santa tracking program
★
Air Defense Control Center
★
United States Space Surveillance Network
★
CFB North Bay - the other
NORAD site
References
1. NORAD Official History
2. Cheyenne Mountain Directorate Official Page
3. NORAD Official Site
4. NORAD Official Mission Statement
External links
★
NORAD Home Page
★
NORAD Santa Page
★
CBC Digital Archives - Norad: Watching the Skies
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