Retiring NORAD: time for a new kind of continental security cooperation.(North American Aerospace Defence Agreement)

Ploughshares Monitor, March, 2006 by Regehr, Ernie

Prime Minister Harper and President Bush are reportedly set to sign a new Canada-US security pact--essentially a revised version of the North American Aerospace Defence Agreement (NORAD). The current agreement is due to expire May 12, 2006 and there are indications that the new arrangement will be extended indefinitely (not for the usual five-year term that has been the recent pattern). There is also speculation that NORAD's tactical surveillance and warning functions will be expanded to include the maritime environment.

All this appears to have an air of inevitability to it, but changes in the military command structures in Canada and the US, as well as changes to the security environment, should make public debate and a serious parliamentary review...

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