Norad (North American Aerospace Defense Command)

Military headquarters established by the United States and Canada to monitor and defend North American airspace. The agreement that created the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was signed on May 12, 1958. It was a Cold War deterrent to airborne threats to North America from outside the region. The agreement has been renewed eight times since 1958.

NORAD uses data from satellites and ground-based radar installations to monitor, validate, and warn of attacks against North America by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles. NORAD also provides surveillance and control of U.S. and Canadian airspace and operates fighter aircraft. Before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC, NORAD was focused on airborne threats to the Canadian and U.S. borders. After the terrorist attacks, NORAD's mission has broadened to include threats from domestic airspace.

NORAD is integrated into the command and intelligence structures of both the U.S. and Canadian armed forces. The commander in chief of NORAD is appointed by the president of the United States and the prime minister of Canada and reports to both leaders. NORAD is headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, but the command and control center for its worldwide system of sensors designed to detect aerospace threats is located at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado.

NORAD's area of responsibility stretches from Clear, Alaska, to the Florida Keys and from St. John's, Newfoundland, to San Diego, California. It operates three regional sectors to perform its dual mission of aerospace warning and aerospace control: the Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR), headquartered near Anchorage; Canadian NORAD Region (CANR) in Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the Continental United States NORAD Region (CONR). The CONR is broken into three sectors: Western Air Defense Sector at McChord Air Force Base in the state of Washington; Northeast Air Defense Sector at Rome, New York; and Southeast Air Defense Sector at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Tyndall Air Force Base is the CONR headquarters.