Journeyman said:
I sure hope that USAF Gen. ('4-star') Robinson -- Commander, NORAD -- gets the memo, along with the American LGen and MGen in NORAD HQ, that the Canadian '3-star' is actually "running the show."
He was on 9/11
https://www.archives.gov/declassification/iscap/pdf/2012-042-doc27.pdf
NORAD is a partnership. The chain of command recognized the equality and capability of all team members.
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/vancouver-island-man-played-key-role-at-norad-defence-centre-amid-sept-11-turmoil-1.619894
It was a fluke that a Canadian was the command director on duty that morning. Four out of five shifts that week were manned by Americans. Jellinek was about a year into his three-year term at Norad after retiring from the navy.
“We were just doing our jobs,” said Jellinek, 63. In 2003, Jellinek was awarded the meritorious service medal by the governor general for his work initiating the response to the attacks.
He arrived early for a 5:30 a.m. briefing on the day’s events: Russian bomber training in the Arctic and a fully manned Norad exercise — which came in handy later.
Then the command centre got a call, alerting them the U.S. national transport agency was tracking a hijacked plane.
“Before 9/11, the old-fashioned procedure was to get on an aircraft’s tail and watch it, then see what the hijackers wanted,” Jellinek said. The military became involved by request.
Command centre crew were watching CNN live video of smoke coming from the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York, wondering what was happening. Then they saw the second plane hit, he said.
In a very short time, four planes had been hijacked, one crashed into the Pentagon and another was in the air.
In the frantic hours that followed, Canadians and Americans worked together swiftly. Jellinek played a key role in two major decisions: all U.S. air traffic was shut down within the hour, and international flights were quickly diverted to Canadian towns and cities.
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/vancouver-island-man-played-key-role-at-norad-defence-centre-amid-sept-11-turmoil-1.619894#sthash.MludjOGg.dpuf