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Canada, U.S. Expand NORAD
Canada and the United States last week signed a deal to renew and expand responsibilities under the North American Aerospace Defense Command treaty, the Toronto Star reported Saturday (see GSN, March 29). “The text of a renewed NORAD agreement was signed in Ottawa on April 28 by the minister of national defense and the U.S. ambassador, which signals the end of the negotiating process,” Etienne Allard, a spokesman for Defense Minister Gordon O’Connor, said Friday. “As per our campaign promise, the new agreement will be tabled in Parliament for debate,” he said. The new agreement also broadens the treaty’s jurisdiction from defending against air attacks to include surveillance of seacoasts, the Star reported. “The new agreement expands NORAD’s mission by adding maritime warning to NORAD’s aerospace defense mission,” said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus. That calls for using NORAD to watch for seagoing vessels that might be used in a terrorism incident. While the current agreement expires on May 12, the new deal has no expiration date, “acknowledging the mature nature of the U.S.-Canadian defense partnership,” Hironimus said. The neighboring countries signed the NORAD pact in 1996. It was amended in 2004 with the task of missile tracking and warning as part of the U.S missile defense program. NORAD is to continue tracking missiles, but Canada’s involvement in U.S. missile defense will not be reopened, according to Hironimus. “Canada’s decision is not affected by this agreement and the U.S. is not seeking Canadian participation in the missile defense program,” she said (Bruce Campion-Smith, Toronto Star, April 29).
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