Photo By Thomas Paul | U.S. Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense...... read more read more
Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, held a conference for senior leaders from all component, subordinate, and region commands at his headquarters on Peterson Air Force Base, May 19-20, 2021.
This was VanHerck’s first in-person commander’s conference since the COVID-19 pandemic began and since taking command in August 2020.
The conference provided opportunities for the commanders and senior enlisted leaders of NORAD and USNORTHCOM to gain a clear understanding of the updated NORAD and USNORTHCOM Strategy and VanHerck’s vision for defending the homelands through a globally integrated network of allies, partners and other combatant commands. Additionally, the commands’ senior enlisted leader, U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Paul G. McKenna, hosted a breakout session focused on the importance of Joint Professional Military Education for current and future joint force enlisted leaders.
“The security environment today has changed significantly over the last two decades. Our peer competitors have developed capabilities and employment concepts to hold us at risk,” VanHerck said. “These changes demand a shift from a regional to global perspective in how we defend our Homelands.”
In March of this year, VanHerck released an executive summary of the NORAD and USNORTHCOM strategy following the classified version, released in January. The executive summary is a guide to applying strategic principles of all-domain awareness, information dominance, decision superiority, and global integration. The strategy accelerates efforts to transform the culture and factor Homeland Defense considerations into every acquisition, budget, force design, and management decision.
A recurring topic throughout the conference was the critical importance of NORAD modernization. Canada and the United States are working to develop a more robust all-domain “system of systems” to provide early warning and tracking of evolving threats through our northern approaches as well as from both coasts. Both countries have provided initial research and development funding to aid in developing required capabilities.
Another topic of discussion was the Global Information Dominance Experiment (GIDE) #3, scheduled for the middle of July. GIDE is a series of experiments allowing rapid collaboration by multiple combatant commands for cross-command deterrence courses of action in competition and crisis scenarios.
“I believe there is an urgent need to change our culture and view in how we utilize data, information, and technology to deter in competition, de-escalate in crisis, and if required, defeat in conflict,” VanHerck said. "It was great to finally gather in one room to discuss how we will guide homeland defense into the future in this new era of strategic competition. Homeland defense does not start in the homeland. It begins forward, through a globally integrated network of allies, partners, and fellow combatant commanders."
| Date Taken: | 05.20.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 05.25.2021 13:36 |
| Story ID: | 397353 |
| Location: | PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 236 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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