U.S. Northern Command
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM) is a Unified Combatant Command of the United States Military.
Created in 2002, its mission is to protect the United States homeland, and support local, state, and federal authorities.
The Command has approximately 1,200 uniformed and civilian members, and few permament forces. Forces from all branches of the U.S. military may be assigned to the Command as needed to complete its mission.
Commander, U.S. Northern Command is concurrently Commander of the US-Canadian North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). The two are co-located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. General Ralph Eberhart was the first CDRNORCOM, succeded by Admiral Timothy Keating.
NORTHCOM is responsible for much of North America, from the U.S.-Mexican border up to Canada's Artic territories. Alaska, however, is shared jointly between NORTHCOM and the U.S. Pacific Command while Greenland is shared jointly between NORTHCOM and U.S. European Command. Hawaii is solely under the jurisdiction of USPACOM.
Links
United States Northern Command (http://www.northcom.mil/)
