Northcom prioritizes cooperation in homeland defense

Earlier this month, Navy Admiral William E. Gortney, commander of U.S. Northern Command (Northcom) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), spoke of the importance of homeland defense with the House Armed Services Committee. Gortney testified before the panel on budget requests, command operations, and whole-of-government and military-to-military cooperation.

Gortney talked about threats to the homeland, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and the interagency partnerships that enable successful operations. According to Gortney, Northcom partners continuously with military, intelligence community, law enforcement, and other entities involved in homeland security. “Our mission partners maintain nearly 60 liaison officers in our headquarters and these patriots are fully embedded in … our intel organization,” said Gortney.

Gortney also discussed including mission partners in exercises, saying “We call this state-of-security cooperation within the homeland. This is Northcom supporting our mission partners and our mission partners supporting us, which is why we view these homeland partnerships as our center of gravity.”

For more information on this topic, please follow the link below.
Northcom’s First Priority is ‘No-Fail’ Homeland Defense, Commander Says, DoD News