Cooperation with Canada

When you ask average Americans about their perceptions of the relationship between the United States and Canada, they will undoubtedly talk about the NHL or the Vancouver Winter Olympics, or Toronto making the MLB playoffs or the Keystone pipeline, or maybe even the recent election of a new government in Ottawa. While all of these are important and are certainly a bedrock of the U.S.-Canadian partnership, these answers miss the very critical security relationship that enables us to enjoy the freedoms of democratic governments, of economic growth, and of showcasing some of the greatest athletes in the world. The reality is that our two nations have been bound together for decades—economically, militarily, socially, and politically. As the first-born U.S. citizen of significant Canadian heritage (three of four grandparents), and as the former Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), I have had a unique seat to observe the close ties between our countries.

Our partnership with Canada in areas of mutual defense took an important turn after World War II. In 1947, the U.S. and Canada signed a “Joint Statement on Defense Collaboration.” Two years later, the two nations signed the Canada–U.S. Emergency Defense Plan and established the Military Cooperation Committee, initiating a detailed partnership that would lead to the signing of the first NORAD Agreement in 1958.  As Soviet threats emerged during the Cold War, the warning, assessment, and response capabilities of both the U.S. and Canada also evolved.  In fact, when the Cold War ended, instead of reducing the mission or dissolving the defense agreements, both nations agreed to grow and expand the mission statement for NORAD to address new threats to both countries. Two such examples were the addition of the anti-drug mission to the air sovereignty focus of both countries in 1989 and the evolving global counterterrorist activities that continue today.