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No. 2443 July 27, 2010 Expand NORAD to Improve Security in North America James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Jena Baker McNeill, Ray Walser, Ph.D., and Richard Weitz, Ph.D. Abstract: The North American Aerospace Defense Com- mand (NORAD) has repeatedly adapted to meet a range of national security concerns. First created to confront the Talking Points growing Soviet bomber threat, NORAD’s mission has been • America and Canada have had a long and expanded to provide aerospace and maritime warning for constructive defense partnership based on North America. However, U.S. and Canadian security mutual respect and interests that has interests do not end at the U.S.–Mexico border. To enable strengthened and protected the sovereignty NORAD to better fulfill its mission, the United States and of both nations. Canada should invite Mexico to join NORAD. Mexican • NORAD is a binational American and Canadian participation would greatly enhance NORAD’s aerial and military command that provides aerospace maritime surveillance capabilities in North America and and maritime warning for North America. help to build a common strategic vision across North • U.S. and Canadian security interests do not end America. at the U.S.–Mexico border. Increased coopera- tion is needed to address a wide range of secu- rity issues facing North America, ranging from trade to cyber security and terrorist threats to The North American Aerospace Defense Command the growing influence of drug cartels. (NORAD) is a binational American and Canadian mil- • The U.S. and Canada should formally invite itary command that provides aerospace and maritime Mexico to join NORAD. Including Mexico could warning for North America. Established in 1958 to greatly enhance NORAD’s aerial and maritime confront the growing Soviet bomber threat, NORAD surveillance in North America, address com- has repeatedly adapted to the evolving security envi- mon threats and concerns, and help to build a ronment. The command’s unique design reflects the common strategic vision among North Ameri- countries’ shared values and common security chal- can countries that respects and strengthens lenges, while respecting the sovereignty of both nations. national sovereignty. Contemporary security concerns have refocused This paper, in its entirety, can be found at: NORAD’s mission to incorporate internal and mari- http://report.heritage.org/bg2443 time threats, with both countries evaluating “opportu- 1 Produced by the Douglas and Sarah Allison nities for enhanced military cooperation.” Center for Foreign Policy Studies of the NORAD should now adapt further by expanding Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis both its membership and its range of functions. The Institute for International Studies Published by The Heritage Foundation United States and Canada should invite Mexico to join 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20002–4999 (202) 546-4400 • heritage.org Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress. No. 2443 July 27, 2010 NORAD. Bringing Mexico into NORAD would vided additional warning and response time. greatly enhance NORAD’s aerial and maritime sur- Finally, after further improvements in Soviet veillance capabilities in North America and help to bomber technology called into question the ability build a common strategic vision among North of the Pinetree Line and Mid-Canada Line to ensure American countries that respects and strengthens adequate early warning, the Canadian and Ameri- the sovereignty of each nation while addressing can governments built the Distant Early Warning common threats and concerns.1 (DEW) Line along the 70th parallel. The U.S. Air Force (USAF) operated the American components, NORAD’s History and the Royal Canadian Air Force operated the The U.S. and Canada have had a long and con- Canadian components.4 The U.S. also established structive defense partnership based on mutual the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) respect and interests that has strengthened and pro- with a four-star USAF general as its commanding tected the sovereignty of each nation. Contempo- officer. CONAD expanded the mission of the exist- rary military cooperation between the United States ing USAF Air Defense Command to include Cana- and Canada began in response to Japanese and Ger- dian territory. man military conquests during World War II. On _________________________________________ August 18, 1940, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister William As the first line of defense for the homeland, Lyon Mackenzie King established the Permanent NORAD assumed command amid an escalating Joint Board on Defense (CANUS).2 The board met Cold War. ____________________________________________ periodically to coordinate the defense of North America. After World War II, CANUS created the In 1957, a joint military study group proposed Military Cooperation Committee, a continuously an integrated military command system, which operating organization that worked to implement was named Air Defense Canada–United States the Basic Security Plan by planning how best to (ADCANUS). U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower coordinate U.S. and Canadian efforts. and Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker In response to the growing threat from Soviet quickly approved the proposal and announced the long-range bombers and a Soviet atomic bomb test system on August 1, 1957. USAF General Earle E. in 1949, the two countries developed a three-tiered Partridge, ADCANUS’s first commander, changed the radar defense line across North America to detect organization’s name from the awkward ADCANUS any planes entering North American airspace.3 In to the North American Air Defense Command 1951, the two countries first built the Pinetree Line, with its easily pronounceable acronym NORAD.5 a line of linked radar stations along the 50th paral- NORAD became operational on September 12, lel, just north of the U.S.–Canada border. This sys- 1957. Control of air defenses was centralized into tem rapidly became outdated, and Canada and the an integrated command, ensuring rapid response United States constructed the Mid-Canada Line (the while acknowledging the nature of the binational McGill Fence) in 1957 and 1958, 300 miles north relationship. As the first line of defense for the of the Pinetree Line along the 55th parallel. These homeland, NORAD assumed command amid an radars were less vulnerable to jamming and pro- escalating Cold War. 1. General Victor E. Renuart Jr., “The Enduring Value of NORAD,” Joint Force Quarterly, Issue 54 (3rd Quarter, 2009), p. 93, at http://www.ndu.edu/press/lib/images/jfq-54/23.pdf (June 17, 2010). 2. Ogdensburg Declaration, joint statement of the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the United States, August 18, 1940, at http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/ca_us/en/cts.1947.43.en.html (June 17, 2010). 3. Renuart, “The Enduring Value of NORAD,” p. 93. 4. Joseph T. Jockel, Canada in NORAD, 1957–2007: A History (Kingston, Ontario: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007), p. 11. 5. Ibid., p. 25. page 2 No. 2443 July 27, 2010 However, the 1957 agreement caused some con- After the Cold War cerns, mostly among Americans, who feared that Since the end of the Cold War, NORAD has the failure to require cooperation of forces would evolved to address a range of national security con- result in lax Canadian preparation and slow mobili- cerns. The National Defense Authorization Act, zation in times of crisis because Canada could avoid Fiscal Year 1989,8 requires the military to aid law political loss and physical damage by letting the enforcement agencies in combating drug traffick- United States shoulder the burden of warfare. Gen- ing in the United States, and the Canadian element eral Partridge pushed for a formal agreement that of NORAD agreed to participate. In 1991, the anti- would require joint cooperation in a crisis, but the smuggling mission was made official, and U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff believed full formal coop- NORAD’s radar systems and interception proce- eration would cause more harm than good because dures were shifted from defense against bombers it would require integrating Canadian civilian and missiles to policing against small passenger authorities. Partridge, the Joint Chiefs, and the planes piloted by smugglers, primarily small Canadians agreed on a compromise policy of joint planes transporting cocaine from South America.9 consultation during a crisis. As a result, NORAD balloon-mounted radars have NORAD was established with a U.S. commander been placed mostly along the southern U.S. border. with a Canadian deputy. While the commander has Meanwhile, North American air defenses were operational control over forces allocated to reduced after the Soviet bomber threat waned. “All NORAD, all other aspects of command and organi- the nuclear air defence weapons and all the fixed zation fall to the national components of NORAD. surface-to-air defence weapons are gone. Most of Neither country is obligated to place its forces on the radar sites have been closed.”10 alert or to mobilize if the other country’s com- The successful terrorist attacks of September 11, mander orders it. The commander must also follow 2001, greatly altered NORAD operations. During general defense plans outlined by the two govern- the attacks, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administra- ments, consult with both governments on long- tion was notified of terrorist hijackings of four term decisions, and obtain their permission before planes, but failed to warn NORAD in time.11 The releasing important information to the public. The attacks prompted a major increase in air defense two governments provide the funding for necessary over American cities, culminating in Operation headquarters, facilities, and forces. Noble Eagle. NORAD’s role in security also The main NORAD headquarters is near Colorado increased with its involvement in Operation Noble Springs, Colorado. The U.S.

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