[Delwin]

Who We Are - History

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a binational military organization formally established in 1958 by Canada and the United States to monitor and defend North American airspace. Using data from satellites and ground base radar, NORAD monitors, validates and warns of attack against North America by aircraft, missiles or space vehicles. NORAD also provides surveillance and control of the airspace of Canada and the United States.

The NORAD Agreement was first signed by the governments of Canada and the United States on May 12, 1958, and has been renewed for varying periods since that time. Although there have been eight NORAD renewals since 1958, the basic text of the Agreement has been revised substantially only three times -- in 1975, 1981 and 1996.

The commander in chief of NORAD is appointed by, and is responsible to, both the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the United States. Headquarters NORAD is located at Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colo. NORAD command and control is exercised through the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, located a short distance away. Cheyenne Mountain serves as a central collection and coordination facility for a worldwide system of sensors designed to provide NORAD with an accurate picture of any aerospace threat.

Possible road bumps:

Prime Minister Paul Martin, in announcing the decision NOT to join the missile defence project, took great pains to emphasize that Canada will continue to work in partnership with the United States to assure the common defense of North American continental security and coastal security. He supported this claim by allocating 13 billion dollars over the next 5 years to rebuild the Canadian military.
There is little doubt that discussions on these issues with the Americans will in the near future be more difficult but it remains in the interest of both parties to co-operate in continental security.

Carmel Kilkenny
March 15th, 2005

For almost 50 years, Canada and the U.S. have worked together in providing air security to North America, however, Canada has decided that the proposed Misssle defence pact is in direct defiance of the anti-ballistic missile treaty of 1972:
In the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems the United States and the Soviet Union agree that each may have only two ABM deployment areas,1 so restricted and so located that they cannot provide a nationwide ABM defense or become the basis for developing one. Each country thus leaves unchallenged the penetration capability of the others retaliatory missile forces.

The Treaty permits each side to have one limited ABM system to protect its capital and another to protect an ICBM launch area. The two sites defended must be at least 1,300 kilometers apart, to prevent the creation of any effective regional defense zone or the beginnings of a nationwide system.

The U.S. argues that this treaty is no longer valid as the U.S.S.R. is no longer a country and therefor cannot fullfill it's side of the bargain in it's entirety.
Should the U.S./Russia be held to this agreement? If Qubec leaves Canada will we be exempt from all of our international agreements because we are not the same country?How will our decision affect our role in NORAD?