Mr. Chair and members of the committee, good afternoon.
My name is Alain Pelletier and I am the deputy commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command, NORAD, here in Colorado Springs, in the state of Colorado.
I've held a broad range of roles across the Canadian Armed Forces that include the director of air requirements, chief of the fighter capability program, deputy commander of the continental U.S. NORAD region, and most recently as the commander of 1 Canadian Air Division and Canadian NORAD region.
In my current role as the NORAD deputy commander, I support the commander, General Glen VanHerck, as he carries out the three roles assigned to him: aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning for North America.
NORAD provides detection, validation and warning of attacks on North America, whether by aircraft, missile, space vehicles or from the maritime approaches. NORAD is a unique binational command composed of Canadian and U.S. service members and is co-located with the U.S. Northern Command, for which General VanHerck is also the commander.
Together, NORAD and USNORTHCOM offer a unique focus on the continental defence of North America, which we execute proudly with the Canadian Joint Operations Command and the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command.
The world has changed and NORAD’s approach to address evolving threats is also changing.
NORAD has actively communicated its requirements to the leadership of the U.S. Department of Defense and to the Canadian Armed Forces in order to remain relevant towards our mission, our countries and our allies and to close the capability gaps generated by the evolution of the threats to Canada and the U.S.
As such, I work closely with the three services of the Canadian Armed Forces and numerous departments within DND to include the ADM policy and the chief of force development, both of which are represented here today, to advocate for the requirements and capabilities necessary for NORAD to carry out its assigned mission.
I am privileged to be working in our great binational organization that is NORAD to deliver on our mission with such a dedicated team of Canadian and American professionals who maintain the watch 365 days a year for the safety of both of our nations.
With that short overview, I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak about NORAD and include our requirements for air defence in the context of continental defence, and I look forward to actually answering your questions today.
Thank you.