NORAD's Focus Changes Post 9/11

C H E Y E N N E  M O U N T A I N, Colo., May 3 -- Cheyenne Mountain, located just south of Denver, houses the heart and technical soul of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which has been watching the skies over North America and beyond since the mid-1960s.

During the Cold War, Cheyenne Mountain was hollowed out to accommodate 15 buildings where NORAD's electronic eyes and ears were constantly alert to the possibility of a Soviet attack. It was a joint U.S.-Canada operation with the purpose of monitoring Soviet bombers and missiles.

The facility, built to withstand a 130-megaton bomb, has blast doors that weigh 25 tons each and can be closed in 30 seconds.

The last time the doors were closed in crisis was on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

9/11 Changes NORAD's Focus

NORAD's mission transformed dramatically since that day, as evidenced by the changes in the facility's air warning center.

The old radar view of the North American continent used to include a vast electronic fence around its borders for monitoring Soviet threats.

Today, however, NORAD watches for anything unusual — any deviation by thousands of blue dots on radar screens that represent airplanes in the skies. NORAD monitors 2 ½ million aircraft flights a year.

"Obviously [after] the events of 9/11, we can't assume now that because an aircraft is on a flight plan, because it originated here in the United States, that it doesn't constitute a threat," said NORAD commander Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart, a four-star U.S. Air Force general.

Eberhart and his team can scramble fighter jets from various bases across the country if they think there is a problem. In fact, 35,000 fighter jet patrols have been launched since 9/11.

Working with the Federal Aviation Administration, which gives NORAD instantaneous feeds from all it own radars, NORAD would consider the gravest scenario — shooting down a commercial aircraft under the command of terrorists.

"I can't talk about the specific authorities because we don't want the enemy to know who has what authority," said Eberhart about that process.