The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a United States and Canada bi-national organization charged with the missions of aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning for North America. Aerospace warning includes the detection, validation, and warning of attack against North America whether by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles, through mutual support arrangements with other commands.
So how did a Chinese balloon the size of three buses end up flying from Alaska to Canada and then across the United States? Is NORAD really doing its job? There were many uninhabited places that the balloon could be shot down in Alaska and the North West Territories of Canada. So arguing that they did not want harm coming to populations does not hold water.
The Sunday morning news shows had guests that gave politically motivated commentaries. Of course the Democrats defended the actions of the Administration and GOP guests attacked. No surprise. Sadly no one provided real answers.
Update on February 6, 2023 is horrifying.
“Every day as a NORAD commander, it’s my responsibility to detect threats to North America. I will tell you that we did not detect those threats,” Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command said when asked about the three other balloons.
“And that’s a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out, but I don’t want to go into further detail.”
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