SCHOOL THESIS

I. INTRODUCTION
A. PROBLEM STATEMENT
For more than fifty years, North American Aerospace Defense Command
(NORAD) has been responsible for conducting aerospace warning and aerospace control
for North America. These two aerospace missions involve the combined efforts of
military forces of both the U.S. and Canada to detect airborne threats approaching or
flying within North America (aerospace warning), and then taking appropriate actions to
determine the aircraft of interest’s actual intentions (aerospace control). The commander
of NORAD is responsible for making an official assessment to the president and the
Canadian prime minister if North America is under aerospace attack.
Similarly, U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) is responsible for defending
the U.S. military’s cyberspace enterprise. The commander of USCYBERCOM is
responsible for making an official assessment to the president if the U.S. military is under
cyber attack. Would involving NORAD in the military cyber attack assessment process,
leveraging its unique and proven binational structure, provide any advantages?
This thesis explores a new NORAD role in cyberspace defense, which is not one
of its legacy air defense missions. However, there exists precedence for adding a new,
non-aerospace related mission to NORAD; that being, the addition of the Maritime
Warning mission to NORAD in 2006.
With cyber attacks by nation-states on the rise, this thesis investigates if there is
an advantage in involving the assessment of military cyber attacks with a binational
military command. Potential advantages may include operational efficiencies, improved
cyberspace defense readiness, and/or enhanced situational awareness of a precursor
cyberspace attack before any kinetic attack upon North America. Disadvantages may
involve difficulties sharing cyberspace defense information between U.S. and Canadian
cyberspace defense agencies, or an actual lessening of operational effectiveness of
USCYBERCOM cyberspace defense operations themselves.
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