Review: Canada in Norad 1957–2007
| Author | Dwight N. Mason |
| Published date | 01 September 2008 |
| Date | 01 September 2008 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070200806300323 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
| International Journal | Summer 2008 | 775 |
| Reviews |
CANADA IN NORAD 1957-2007
A History
Joseph T. Jockel
Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007. 225pp,
$34.95 paper (ISBN 978-1-55339-134-0)
Joseph Jockel, professor of Canadian studiesat St. Lawrence University, is an
authority on post-World War II United States-Canadian defence relations.
He has taken a particular interest in North American continental air defence,
and this is his second book on the subject. His first was
No Boundaries Up-
stairs: Canada, the United States and the Origins of North American Air De-
fense 1945- 1958
, published in 1987.
Canada in NORAD
continues the story from 1957 to 2007 and is focused
on the origins and history of the North American air (and now aerospace) de-
fence agreement and the organization created by that agreement known as
the North American aerospace command or NORAD. The book looks at
three aspects of NORAD: the trajectory and growth of United States-Cana-
dian cooperation in North American air defence as the threat changed;
NORAD as a United States-Canadian binational command; and the evolution
of the agreement itself.
The United States and Canada established NORAD to respond to the
threat presented to North America by Soviet bombers. They realized that the
speed at which those bombers could arrive,plus the lethality of their nuclear
cargo, necessitated an immediate, coordinated response. It was clear that
there would not be enough time to plan as each incident developed. Jockel
convincingly argues that what made NORAD politically possible was the con-
cept of “operational control.”Jockel’s description of how the agreement works
is excellent: he notes that the commander of NORAD (by custom an Amer-
ican officer with a Canadian deputy commander) would “have the power to
direct, coordinate and control the operational activities of forces assigned”
while command would remain in national hands (35). Command here
means administration, discipline, training, pay, promotion,and the ability to
assign or remove forces.A key point is that the “assign or remove forces” re-
sponsibility rests with each government and not NORAD.
The agreement created NORAD as an integrated (binational) organiza-
tion of United States and Canadian personnel where operational decision-
making and financial responsibilities are shared. For example, the director
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