NORAD Renewal and a Team Canada approach to security

Analysts and pundits now routinely warn that Canada must urgently beef up Arctic defences to protect Canadian sovereignty and territory from the expansionist ambitions of strategic adversaries – Russia and China (and these days, we could add a third). NORAD ‘modernization” is a primary response, and Ottawa has announced the planned expenditure of an initial $38 billion over 20 years on the project. But what are the targets to be defended, and against what weapons? NORAD has in fact always been focused on defending the more southerly regions of the continent against threats coming via the North, rather than the Arctic itself. A renewed NORAD, in the face of new generations of conventionally armed missiles, promises to largely maintain that core mission. Though the strategic environment is obviously changing, threats of direct attack on the Canadian Arctic are still broadly deemed to remain low. Furthermore, the security of the Canadian North, indeed of all of Canada, depends on a much deeper “whole-of-society” effort.  Continue reading at The Simons Foundation Canada.