My wife Jill and I recently had the pleasure of taping messages of support for DOD STARBASE, which is a premier educational program sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs.  In the STARBASE program, we’re able to take children out of the traditional classroom and put them into an interactive classroom with military personnel where they get hands-on experience with aviation, science, technology, engineering, math, and space exploration. Hopefully, it may inspire the children to have an enduring interest in some of those areas in the future. 

In today’s environment where science, technology, engineering and math are in big demand and literally the key to the future economic strength of our country, STARBASE is an opportunity to encourage youngsters at the critical 5th grade point in their lives to dive into those subjects. We want to create a pool of young men and women who will have a passion for the technical fields and sciences, and that’s good for the nation. Who better to have as role models for our young people than our outstanding Airmen, Marines, Sailors and Soldiers?

Cheers, Gene Renuart

The day has finally come and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics are starting. A lot of people have talked about the security needed for keeping athletes, spectators and world leaders alike safe during the games. I recently had the opportunity to travel to Vancouver and see the preparations first-hand. I can unequivocally say that the Canadians are ready.

Here at NORAD and USNORTHCOM, we are proud of the support we are providing for the Olympics. We routinely provide support for special security events, like the Super Bowl, presidential inauguration, Space Shuttle launches, and more. For the Olympics, we are adapting our traditional air sovereignty mission of air surveillance and warning, which we do every day, to cover the Olympic venues. Our NORAD airspace security effort reaches from Seattle up to Vancouver and on to Whistler. We'll be using ground-based radar, airborne radar, air defense alert aircraft and helicopters to help identify aircraft in the Olympics airspace.

Canada has worked diligently for three years to help ensure the safety and security of the Olympic Games, and this is good prudent planning to not leave any gaps or seams where our adversaries could take advantage. I for one am confident these will be the best and safest Olympic Games ever.

Good luck to the U.S. and Canadian athletes! Go for the Gold!

Cheers, Gene Renuart

There has been a tremendous worldwide response to the tragedy in Haiti, and I would be remiss in not publicly acknowledging the significant positive role U.S. Southern Command has played in coordinating the U.S. military efforts supporting this devastated country. And, while USSOUTHCOM, and notably LTG P.K. “Ken” Keen, Commander, of Joint Task Force Haiti, and his remarkable team, have led much of the heavy lifting for our military, many other organizations have worked to help play a role in this response effort. When the Haiti earthquake occurred, the Commander at U.S. Southern Command, General Doug Fraser, gave me a call and said, “Hey! We [USSOUTHCOM] could use some help and you guys [USNORTHCOM] are configured as a command to do large-scale disasters. You do that every day. Can you help us?” And, of course, we said, “Absolutely.” So as of today, the US Northern Command headquarters has nearly 125 of our staff deployed forward into Florida, some with FEMA and DHS, some with Customs and Border Protection--and then about 97 or so in Doug Fraser’s headquarters, providing him with that disaster response expertise.

Our interagency two-star-equivalent civilian is there. Our Marine J-4, one-star, not only was in Florida, but now he is forward running the logistic operation in Haiti for General Keen. Our Standing Joint Force Headquarters -- we basically gutted the Headquarters and sent all 60 members down to SOUTHCOM. They are the Future Planning Cell that is operating for Doug Fraser in Miami. It made sense to put that capacity forward and to give him that surge capability to be able to deal with this huge disaster.

It’s what we trained to do. I think that out of this, one of the lessons will be that we have to think about supporting / supported relationships in a very different way. General Glenn Spears, who is the AFSOUTH Commander, needed help in building a Regional Air Movement Coordination Center process. So I chopped Major General Gary Dean, our Joint Force Air Component Commander, over to Glenn Spears and said, “Do whatever he needs for you to do.”

So, this airflow coordination function for AFSOUTH sits in the AFNORTH Air Operations Center--the search and rescue planners, the Joint Personnel Recovery--Forward, these things are things that we pushed to AFSOUTH to build capacity for them on very short notice.

I think these are the kinds of models that we are going to have to use in the future. I would suggest that if something of this nature occurred in another Combatant Command today, you might have a need to do the same thing. The bottom line to all this…we have to think very differently about the way we structure our joint Combatant Commands and how we partner with each other in a crisis to be successful.

Cheers, Gene Renuart

I recently had the opportunity to talk with National Guard members at both the Hurricane Planning Workshop in Florida and the Joint Task Force Commander Training Course.  Both venues were a tremendous opportunity to discuss how USNORTHCOM and the National Guard work together during a crisis situation.  And, while homeland defense is always our primary focus and requires 24/7/365 attention, bringing together a coordinated civil support effort is not happen stance either.  To support our states, integrated planning and shared situational awareness are key.  But even bigger than that, we must anticipate where a state or region might want our support, so we can be ready when they need us. 

Joint military operations in the homeland are complex, and the National Guard must be prepared to operate either for the federal government or the governor of a state.  NORTHCOM has a responsibility to provide the best support possible using our networks and resources, especially our specialized capabilities that do not reside in any other agency.

When it comes to homeland defense and supporting civil authorities, USNORTHCOM and the National Guard need each other.  We serve our states and our nation best when we collaborate to protect our citizens; and they deserve the best.

Cheers, Gene Renuart