| Lt. Gen. Chan Lee, Republic of Korea air force and superintendent of the Republic of Korea Air Force Academy (right) and Col. Mukyum Kim, Republic of Korea Air Attaché to the United States, recently visited the combined headquarters of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs, Co. |
ROK Air Force Academy superintendent visits NORAD, USNORTHCOM
October 12, 2006
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. –
The North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command welcomed Lt. Gen. Chan Lee, Republic of Korea air force and superintendent of the Republic of Korea Air Force Academy, to its combined headquarters Sept. 18 to discuss how NORAD and USNORTHCOM execute their homeland defense mission.
“The U.S. and Republic of Korea forces alliance is very important for the security of the region,” Lee noted.
The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted ballistic missile tests in July to include a long-range Taepodong-2 missile, and recently announced its intention to conduct its first-ever nuclear test.
“All the world knows about the threat posed by North Korea, but the threat is not only nuclear,” Lee continued, pointing out that the Republic of Korea and its allies must stay prepared to respond to a wide range of conventional and non-conventional scenarios, to include chemical and biological events.
Accompanied by Col. Mu-kyum Kim, Republic of Korea Air Attaché to the United States, Lee met with NORAD Deputy Commander Lt.-Gen. Eric “Rick” A. Findley, USNORTHCOM Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Joseph R. Inge, and NORAD Operations Director Maj.-Gen. Brett D. Cairns to discuss the functions of each command as well as the planning and execution of homeland defense and civil support missions.
Lee also visited the NORAD-USNORTHCOM Command Center to observe its day-to-day operations and coordination with interagency partners. Lee expressed admiration for “the information sharing process, how it’s organized, and the planning for disaster preparedness.
Lee was particularly interested to observe how NORAD integrates the operation of space assets and information to perform its aerospace warning and aerospace control missions for North America, as the ROK air force will be assuming a similar mission for its country.
“Korea has been involved in the development and utilization of space as well,” he noted, pointing out that the Republic of Korea has launched 10 weather, imagery and communications satellites. “I wanted to observe and learn from NORAD how to efficiently integrate and centralize these satellite operations.”
Lee said he’s taking “many great ideas” back home to his students and expressed his thanks to the men and women of USNORTHCOM and NORAD for their role in fostering global security.
NORAD is the bi-national United States and Canadian organization charged with the missions of aerospace warning and aerospace control for North America. USNORTHCOM is the combatant command established to provide command and control of Department of Defense (DoD) homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities.