NORAD: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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===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 entering and operating within<ref>[http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/cmc.htm FAS: Cheyenne Mtn Complex]</ref> America and Canada (including the already existent tracking of commercial aircraft within America[5]), thereby contradicting General Richard Myers' statement in his testimony to the 9/11 Commission where he said NORAD was directed "looking outward" on 9/11 (although commercial flights were not perceived to be threats). 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 are currently in operation.

===Post-September 11, 2001 attacks===

After September 11, 2001 NORAD said that it “was charged with keeping an eye on the nation’s borders, usually looking for threats in the form of Russian aircraft skirting too close for comfort to the mainland”[7] adding, “In those few hours, the command’s mission went from looking outward to looking inward.”[8] Before September 11, 2001 NORAD’s mission was altogether different. In 1997 NORAD said, “Aircraft flying over our air space are monitored seven days a week, 24 hours a day.”[9]

NORAD’s 1997 admission of its true monitoring capability is affirmed by the April 2000 Air Force Instruction 13-1AD, Volume 3 on Air Defense Command and Control Operations, which states in Chapter 3.1, under Mission (this Instruction was in effect on September 11, 2001), "The First Air Force Commander (1 AF/CC), in his role as the CONUS NORAD Region Commander, provides CINCNORAD/Commander US Element NORAD with TW/AA, surveillance and control of the airspace of the United States and appropriate response against air attack.”[10]

After the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], the NORAD mission evolved to include monitoring of all aircraft flying in the interior of the United States.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} NORAD oversees [[Operation Noble Eagle]] using [[fighter aircraft]] [[Combat Air Patrol]]s (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|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.

In 1997 Colonel Dan Navin, special assistant to the commander of 1st Air Force, said many regard NORAD’s “air sovereignty” mission (surveillance and control of the airspace of the United States) to be, “…the most important job of the Air Force."[11]

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, Colorado|Colorado Springs]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} 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==

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{{Reflist|2}}

;Notes

:[5]. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3731/is_199709/ai_n8766326

:5. http://web.archive.org/web/19970407010917/http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0196/border.htm

:[7]. http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforce/a/airdefense.htm

:[8]. Ibid

:10.http://usa-federal-forms.com/air-force/3-pdf-forms_pubs/www.e-publishing.af.mil/pubfiles/af/13/afi13-1adv3/afi13-1adv3.pdf▼

:[9]. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3731/is_199709/ai_n8766326

▲:[10].http://usa-federal-forms.com/air-force/3-pdf-forms_pubs/www.e-publishing.af.mil/pubfiles/af/13/afi13-1adv3/afi13-1adv3.pdf

:[11].http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3731/is_199709/ai_n8766326

==External links==