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NORAD response to Federal Aviation Administration’s announcement

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – July 26, 2007 The Department of Defense and North American Aerospace Defense Command worked closely with the Federal Aviation Administration and other air security partners on the changes announced today for commercial and general aviation flights in the National Capital Region.

NORAD enforces this new Air Defense Identification Zone configuration and concurs with the special flight procedures outlined this afternoon by the FAA because it strikes a balance between security and the interests of the commercial and general aviation communities.

"While the FAA establishes flight rules for the NCR, NORAD immediately initiates protective air security measures as soon as violations of the ADIZ are detected," said General Gene Renuart, Commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command.

NORAD's mission — in close collaboration with homeland defense, security, and law enforcement partners — is to prevent air attacks against North America, safeguard the sovereign airspaces of the United States and Canada by responding to unknown, unwanted and unauthorized air activity approaching and operating within these airspaces, and provide aerospace and maritime warning for North America. NORAD may be required to monitor, shadow, divert from flight path, direct to land and/or destroy platforms deemed a potential threat to North America.

NORAD is the bi-national Canadian and American command that is responsible for the air defense of North America and maritime warning. The command has three subordinate regional headquarters: the Alaskan NORAD Region at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; the Canadian NORAD Region at Winnepeg, Manitoba; and the Continental NORAD Region at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. The command is poised both tactically and strategically in our nation’s capital to provide a multilayered defense to detect, deter and prevent potential threats flying over the airspace of the United States and Canada.