NORAD, NORTHCOM COMMANDER BRIEFS REPORTERS ON HOMELAND DEFENSE

FROM:   U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

Navy Adm. William E. Gortney, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, briefs reporters at the Pentagon, April 7, 2015. DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz.  

NORTHCOM, NORAD Strengthen Homeland Defense, Says Commander
By Amaani Lyle
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2015 – Four months into his tenure as leader of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, Navy Adm. Bill Gortney conducted a Pentagon press briefing today on priority efforts in homeland defense.

Currently the Defense Department’s only bilateral command, 58-year-old NORAD brings Americans and Canadians together, Gortney said. NORAD works in tandem with Northcom, established in 2002, to protect the homeland from external threats as well as respond to natural disasters, homeland extremists and cyberattacks, he explained.

“[The mission set] encompasses the traditional NORAD role of air defense, as well as … maritime warning,” Gortney said.

Northcom, the admiral noted, rounds out the mission set with its maritime defense and control elements and includes Operation Noble Eagle, U.S.-Canadian homeland security operations that have been ongoing since just after 9/11.

The commands’ responsibilities also include homeland ballistic missile defense and countering transnational criminal networks to thwart smugglers or others who engage in nefarious activity, he said.

Federal military forces provide defense support of civil authorities, which Gortney said has expansive functions across myriad mission requirements.

“Many people think [that support] involves Hurricane Katrina or Super Storm Sandy, an earthquake or a flood, but it encompasses much more than that,” the admiral said. “It’s helping our interagency … and law enforcement partners, predominantly homeland security, in their particular missions.”

Importance of Homeland Partnerships

Gortney described homeland partnerships as NORAD’s and Northcom’s “center of gravity,” with not only a large interagency and law enforcement presence, but some 60 senior federal and senior executive service employees whose tasks cross mission sets.

NORAD and Northcom, he added, also work with governors, the Army National Guard and Air National Guard, and the functional and geographic combatant commands. “[They all work] together to close those seams that the enemy will try and exploit to get after us,” Gortney said.

International Partnerships

Gortney said that as the unified command plan directs, his people emphasize international partnerships with Canada, the Bahamas and Mexico to assess and solve shared problems.

DoD is also “the advocate of the arctic,” Gortney said, adding that he and his team are working to better define roles and doctrine by determining operational requirements, necessary investments and partnerships that will best inform DoD plans for the region.

Focus on Professionalism, Warfighters, Families

Along with professionalism and excellence, which Gortney described as full-time jobs, he told reporters NORAD and Northcom’s people focus on warfighters and their families.

“We rely on those who wear the cloth of our nation to defend our nation,” Gortney said. “It’s both an away game and a near game, and our families are the very stitches that hold [it] together.”

STANDING READY TO DEFEND U.S TERRITORY

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Northcom, NORAD Stand Ready to Defend Nation, Commander Says
By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 13, 2014 – The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 provided an important reprieve by enabling short-term readiness fixes and selected program buybacks of significant importance, the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command said today.

But the challenges posed by sequestration and the Budget Control Act remain, Army Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr. told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Defense Department’s ability to plan and decide strategically and find innovative solutions to complex national security challenges is hampered by the budget uncertainty, he said.
“The recent Bipartisan Budget Act only postpones, but does not eliminate, the risks to our future readiness and ability to meet the missions specified in the defense strategic guidance of 2012,” Jacoby said before calling on Congress to find a permanent fix.

The department made a “hard choice” when it implemented the furlough of civilian employees as a cost-cutting measure, the general said. “This decision compromised morale, unsettled families and caused us to break a bond of trust -- one that is absolutely critical to the accomplishment of our mission,” he added.
Equally unsettling, Jacoby said, is that NORAD's ability to execute its primary mission has been subjected to increased risk due to the degradation of Air Force combat readiness.

“With the vigilance and the support of Air Combat Command and the [U.S. Air Forces in Europe], we've been able to sustain our effective day-to-day posture, but that comes at the cost of overall U.S. Air Force readiness, which continues to hover at 50 percent,” the general said.

Threats to national security are becoming more diffuse and less attributable, the general noted. Ultimately, he said, crises elsewhere in the world can rapidly manifest themselves in the United States and make the nation more vulnerable.
“While we stand constant vigil against asymmetric network threat activities, Russian actions in the Ukraine demonstrate that symmetric threats remain,” Jacoby said. “Al-Qaida and transnational criminal networks continue to adapt, and they do so much more quickly than we do.”

To deter and defeat these globally networked threats, the United States must prioritize its support to its partners in the law enforcement community and the international community, the general said.

And, “tangible evidence of North Korean and Iranian ambitions confirms that a limited ballistic missile threat to the homeland has matured from a theoretical to a practical consideration,” he added.

Northcom and NORAD are working with the Missile Defense Agency to address concerns about the potential for proliferation of these lethal technologies, Jacoby said. Together, the three agencies are investing in a “tailored solution to address the challenges that advancing missile technologies impose on our ballistic missile defense system architecture,” he noted.

Northcom and NORAD are working together to address a variety of other challenges, the general said. As seasonal ice decreases, for example, the Arctic is evolving into an increasingly important strategic issue, he told the Senate panel.
“Therefore, we continue to work with our premier Arctic partner, Canada, and other stakeholders to develop our communications domain awareness infrastructure and presence in order to enable safety, security, and defense in the far north,” Jacoby said.

Maintaining an in-depth defense of the nation requires partnerships with neighboring countries, the general said.

“Our futures are inextricably bound together. And this needs to be a good thing in the security context,” he said. “The stronger and safer they are, the stronger our partnerships, the safer we all are collectively. And this creates our common, competitive security advantage for North America.”

Northcom also stands ready to respond to national security events and to support the federal response to man-made or natural disasters, he said.

“Our challenge remains to not be late to need,” the general said. “The men and women of Northcom and NORAD proudly remain vigilant and ready, as we stand watch over North America and adapt to the uncertainty of the global security environment and fiscal realities.”

NORAD AND THE LAW

Army Sgt. Adama Ilbouda, left, with the New York Army National Guard, and Air Force Tech. Sgt. David Tayler of the New York Air National Guard's 274th Air Support Operations Squadron, distribute fuel at the Staten Island Armory during the Hurricane Sandy response, Nov. 3, 2012, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command operate according to strict laws and policies that govern how U.S. forces can be used in the homeland. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, NORTHCOM
Strict Laws, Policies Frame Northcom, NORAD Operations
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., Jan. 23, 2013 - Every time U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command get involved in a mission, a team of lawyers here pays extra close attention.

"You may not hear from us every single time at every single meeting in the building, but we are sitting in on them, and we are listening," Coast Guard Capt. Timothy Connors, staff judge advocate for NORAD and Northcom, told American Forces Press Service.

Connors oversees a staff of 17 active-duty and 15 reserve lawyers -- the most assigned to any U.S. combatant command. Their job is to advise Army Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr., the NORAD and Northcom commander, to ensure the commands remain squarely within the law as they operate in the homeland.

With a homeland defense mission that crosses every domain -- air, land, space, maritime and cyber -- and support roles when needed during domestic disasters and to conduct theater security cooperation assistance, the commands' activities fall within a huge body of law.

These laws dictate what military forces can and can't do inside the United States, Connors explained. They also differentiate between missions federal forces can conduct and those reserved for National Guardsmen operating in a state capacity.

Northcom uses military assets to watch outward for threats headed toward the country, but largely plays a support role for those already within its borders. Military members can support civilian law enforcement for counterdrug operations within the United States, but can't get directly involved in law enforcement activities. They can perform designated missions such as delivering fuel and distributing supplies following a natural disaster, but can't do jobs that would take revenue from private companies.

Simply put, many of the missions that U.S. forces conduct every day outside the United States can't be done within Northcom's area of responsibility.

"Something might sound like a great use of Department of Defense assets, but things can get very complicated when you look at them from a legal standpoint," Connors said. "There's a robust system of laws, policies and regulations that define exactly what is an appropriate use of DOD forces. ... So our job is to ensure that in everything we as a command do, we are operating within that framework."

It all stems back to 1878, when the United States enacted the Posse Comitatus Act.

As the decade of Reconstruction following the Civil War drew to a close, Congress passed the landmark legislation to prevent the federal government from using federal troops to enforce state laws, explained Lance Blythe, command historian for Northcom and NORAD.

The years leading up to passage of the Posse Comitatus Act had been challenging for the United States, Blythe said. Some of the new legislators elected in the former Confederacy were turning a blind eye to new laws designed to institute political reforms and protect former slaves. Concerned that the federal government would dispatch troops to enforce these laws, they pressed for a statute to prohibit the federal government from imposing federal troops in any U.S. state.

More than 100 years since its enactment, the Posse Comitatus Act continues to guide everything the military does while operating in the homeland. "Basically, it means that you won't have a posse of Department of Defense people going out and providing law enforcement," Connors said. "That is not their role."

Posse Comitatus does not limit the military's role in military operations against external threats and in defense of the United States, Connors said. But it draws a clear line within U.S. borders, recognizing that law enforcement responsibility belongs to federal, state and local law enforcement, including the National Guard.

"This is important, because you want the military doing military operations," Connors said. "It keeps defenders focused on defense, and security [experts] focused on security."

Although initially written to prevent military forces from enforcing state laws, the Posse Comitatus Act has been extended by policy to prohibit direct military involvement in all law enforcement activity, Connors said.

But recognizing the military's special capabilities, Congress has authorized specific exceptions in which military forces can be used domestically -- as long as they operate within strict compliance with the Constitution and U.S. laws, he said.

That generally confines them to a supporting role: typically for the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a natural disaster and, in other cases, for the Justice Department or other civilian law enforcement agencies.

Congress, for example, specifically authorized the use of military forces to support counterdrug operations, to assist the Justice Department in crimes involving nuclear materials and in emergencies involving chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction.

With growing awareness of the capabilities the Defense Department has to offer, and proven performance of U.S. forces to support domestic operations, Connors said he anticipates greater demand for them in the future.

"That is why we need to have a robust legal staff in a place like this," he said. "In everything we do, there's a line we need to walk. And when things start to move closer to that line, that's when the lawyers get more and more involved."

One example of a particularly difficult legal scenario is the Insurrection Act. That law predates Posse Comitatus, authorizing the president to use U.S. military personnel to suppress an insurrection. The last time that law was invoked was during the Los Angeles riots in 1992, and Connors said he envisions few circumstances when it might be used again.

"It would have to be the most complex of catastrophes," he said.

NORAD WATCHING OVER REPUBLICAN CONVENTION

Photo Credit:  U.S. Air Force.
FROM: NORTH AMERICAN AEROSPACE DEFENSE COMMAND


Law Enforcement, Public Safety Agencies Announce Security Restrictions, Transportation Plan for 2012 Republican, Democratic National Conventions
Aug. 16, 2012
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - The U.S. Secret Service released the security restrictions and transportation plans for the 2012 Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

Security and transportation plans for the conventions have been developed by a partnership of local, state and federal law enforcement and public safety agencies. These plans provide the general outlines for road closures, vehicular restricted zones, public transportation, charter vehicles and pedestrian routes.

The 2012 Republican National Convention (RNC) will be held in Tampa, Florida from August 26-30, 2012. The 2012 Democratic National Convention (DNC) will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina from September 4-6, 2012. Both events have been designated as National Special Security Events by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

NORTHERN COMMAND OUTLINES PRIORITIES

The following excerpt is from a Department of Defense American Forces Press Service e-mail:
Northcom Prioritizes Homeland Defense, Cyber, Partners
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2012 - Priorities for U.S. Northern Command include expanding partnerships, keeping eyes on air, space, cyberspace, land and sea domains, and outpacing all threats, the Northcom and the North American Aerospace Defense Command commander said today.

Army Gen. Charles Jacoby, Jr., testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the fiscal 2013 defense budget request for the first time as Northcom commander. Northcom was established after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to defending the homeland and help civil authorities respond to natural and other disasters. Its area of responsibility includes Canada and Mexico.

Jacoby said his priorities include advancing and sustaining the U.S.-Canada partnership of NORAD, monitoring the unique and fast-changing domain of the Arctic, and taking care of the men and women of Northcom.

"This past year has been busy. We've synchronized our activities with many partners and done our part to realize efficiencies that we've worked through the budget process," Jacoby told the senators.

As part of the budget, he said, Northcom trimmed its workforce by 141 full-time positions this year, and for fiscal 2013 has requested reducing its operations and maintenance funding by about 6 percent.

"But with the resources and authorities at hand and maintaining our vigilance," the general added, "we'll be able to continue to defend and support the American people."
Outside its primary homeland defense mission, some of Northcom's most immediate concerns include cyber security, transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States from the border with Mexico, and security issues that arise from the predicted melting of Arctic sea ice, opening parts of the Arctic over the next decade to human activity.

Northcom's main responsibility in the cyber domain, Jacoby said, "is consequence management in the event of a catastrophic cyber attack on this country. Northcom could certainly be called upon to provide support to civil authorities in the recovery. But we think our role is broader than that."

Northcom has "some work to do in defining what [constitutes] an attack in the cyber domain," he said. "It's a very collaborative process we're doing as combatant commanders along with [the U.S. Strategic Command] and its ... Cyber Command. That's a work in progress."

Jacoby said he believes "it will be a matter of policy to clearly define what is an attack or what isn't an attack," and he hopes such a policy can be put in place over the next year.
Until then, Jacoby said, he continues to work closely with Cyber Command commander Army Gen. Keith Alexander "to ensure that we have ample warning to understand if there is a cyberattack or malicious cyber activity that ... could compromise the defense of the homeland."

To achieve that end, Jacoby said, Northcom has good cooperation across DOD and with partners in the Department of Homeland Security.

Some aspects of transnational organized crime are another priority for Northcom. President Barack Obama in July released a strategy for combating such crime, and Northcom and the U.S. Southern Command are the main entities through which the Defense Department engages in the Western Hemisphere.
The mandate increases as more nations ask their own militaries to take on internal security responsibilities, Jacoby said.

"What we do on the border [with Mexico] as the Department of Defense is to provide support to the lead agencies -- the Department of Homeland Security, primarily, and the Justice Department's organizations, as well," he said. "We're eager to provide that support."

Partnering with U.S. Customs and Border Protection gives soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines good training opportunities, he added.

"It is a great relationship that's grown stronger and stronger over time," Jacoby said. "Just this month, we've conducted Op[eration] Nimbus II in the Tucson sector, where 1st Armored Division soldiers feel they got better training than they've gotten prior to a deployment at any time in the past 10 years."

In that operation, more than 500 soldiers from Fort Bliss and Fort Hood in Texas supported the U.S. Border Patrol with intelligence and surveillance assistance.
"I think it's critical to continue to strengthen and expand our partnerships in the Northcom headquarters," Jacoby said. "We have over 32 agencies represented there and eight law enforcement agencies. We've never had better sharing of information across the interagency."

Thousands of miles north, the Arctic is becoming an emerging an area of interest for Northcom.

The Navy's Task Force Climate Change and U.S. science agencies have predicted that by 2020 or so, commercial ships may be able to transit the Arctic, where sea ice is in long-term decline.

The region's more than 1,000 miles of coastline and potential sovereign rights to several hundred thousand square miles of ocean gives the United States a strong national security and homeland defense interest there.

"We have an opportunity, while we watch the Arctic begin to open up, to get ahead of potential security requirements," Jacoby told the senators.

To that end, he added, Northcom's strategic framework is to work closely with the Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy and other partners in the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and stay closely tied to partners in Canada.
Jacoby said the Defense Department supports the Convention of the Law of the Sea because it would give the United States a role in long-term negotiations that will involve the Arctic and its resources.

In 2004, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee recommended U.S. accession to the treaty in a unanimous vote, but a vote of the entire Senate has not yet taken place. The United States has signed, but not ratified the treaty.