I would agree that, in fact, if we were to redo this, we would come up with something like NORAD.
I emphasize that—and I'm sure the committee members will remember this—NORAD was not an American idea. It came from both countries. In fact, the U.S. joint chiefs of staff were a little uneasy about creating a binational command. They preferred the prior air defence co-operation. NORAD has to be seen as something that Canadians wanted as well, which Americans eventually supported.
It has worked well. I think that for the committee, the question that also needs to be asked is where NORAD and NORTHCOM sit in American strategic priorities now. In general, I think you'll get the answer, “It's working well, and we see, basically, no need to fundamentally change it.”
It's not something that Americans asked Canadians to do. It's something that both countries have agreed to do.
