United States Northern Command

United States Northern Command - NORTHCOM -
U.S. Northern Command emblem
active
Country	United States of America
Armed forces	United States Armed Forces
Type	Unified Combatant Command Joint activity
Peterson Air Force Base	Colorado Springs , Colorado
motto	Defending Our Homeland ( defense of our homeland )
Commander
Commander	General Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy , USAF
Deputy Commander	Lieutenant General Reynold N. Hoover, USA

The United States Northern Command ( NORTHCOM ; German Northern Command of the United States ) is one of the eleven Unified Combatant Command of the US armed forces .

Responsibility and mandate

NORTHCOM's area of ​​responsibility (purple)

NORTHCOM was created in 2002 as part of one of the greatest reforms of the US military, on the one hand to take over the arm's internal responsibility for North America and on the other hand to support military and civil authorities in home defense at all federal levels . However, precisely this step was criticized as a violation of the US constitution and the Posse Comitatus Act , which provides for a strict separation of police and military.

Approximately 1,200 members of the military and civilians currently work for NORTHCOM . According to the law, any unit or military authority may be placed under this regional command for as long as it is needed to carry out its tasks.

At the moment the commander of the Northern Command is a personal union with the commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command ( NORAD ). Both commandos are stationed at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs ( Colorado ) .

NORTHCOM is responsible for most of North America, more precisely from the US-American- Mexican border to the Canadian territories in the Arctic . Responsibility for Alaska, however, is shared by NORTHCOM and the United States Pacific Command (PACOM). The same applies to Greenland in connection with the United States European Command (EUCOM). Hawaii , on the other hand, is subject to PACOM.

Subordinate commands

• Joint Forces Headquarters National Capital Region (JFHQ-NCR), headquartered in Fort McNair , Washington, DC, is responsible for home defense for the greater metropolitan area, Maryland and Virginia , for cooperation with civil authorities and for national crisis management in the region.

• Joint Task Force Alaska (JTF-AK) with headquarters at Elmendorf Air Force Base in the US state of Alaska , which coordinates national defense and civil defense in cooperation with relevant civil authorities, although part of the US Pacific Command belonging (PACOM) US Alaskan Command (ALCOM ) this association is also the home defense component of NORTHCOM.

• Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF-CS) in Fort Monroe ( Virginia ), coordinates cooperation with civil authorities in crisis management and counter-terrorism ( "Civil Support").

• Joint Task Force North (JTF North), headquartered at Biggs Army Airfield in Fort Bliss , Texas , is a military unit that is supposed to provide military support to the national law enforcement authorities in CONUS in their daily work and in the event of national threats.

• Standing Joint Force Headquarters North (SJFHQ-N), headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base , Colorado , acts as the planning and assessment staff for the Commander's Assessment Element (CAE ).

• Army North (USARNORTH), headquartered in Fort Sam Houston , Texas, is the Army component command of NORTHCOM.

• Air Force North , with headquarters at Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City , in the US state of Florida , forms the Air Force Component Command of NORTHCOM and the operational component of the joint North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) with Canada . It consists of the 1st Air Force (1st Air Fleet) and belongs administratively and technically to the Air Combat Command .

• Special Operations Command North (SOCNORTH), with headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base , is to replace the Special Operations Division , which previously coordinated all activities of the special forces.

guide

No.	Surname	image	Beginning of the appointment	End of appointment
8th	General Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy ( USAF)		May 24, 2018	officiating
7th	General Lori J. Robinson ( USAF)		May 13, 2016	May 24, 2018
6th	Admiral William E. Gortney ( USN )		December 7, 2014	May 13, 2016
5	General Charles H. Jacoby, Jr. ( USA )		August 3, 2011	December 7, 2014
4th	Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr. ( USN )		May 19, 2010	August 3, 2011
3	General Victor E. Renuart, Jr. ( USAF )		March 23, 2007	May 19, 2010
2	Admiral Timothy J. Keating (USN)		November 5, 2004	March 23, 2007
1	General Ralph E. Eberhart (USAF)		October 22, 2002	November 5, 2004

Web links

• Official website of the Northern Command (English)
• American Bar Association on the alleged mixing of police and military competences ( Memento of February 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ elmendorf.af.mil (English)