Peterson Air Force Base – U.S. military leaders shuffled their Colorado-based homeland-defense command today.
They also said they were moving forward on plans to focus more on China and embrace broader missions, from border surveillance to aggressive implementation of missile defense.
“The security of our homeland is in good hands,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said as he led a change of command ceremony on this base east of Colorado Springs, headquarters for U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
Gates installed Air Force Gen. Victor Renuart, who oversaw military planning for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as commander of both Northern Command and NORAD.
Renuart has been asked to guide defenses that primarily target terrorism – and to complete a controversial move of the nation’s early-warning operations out of Cheyenne Mountain to a newer early-warning center at Peterson. Congressional investigators are scrutinizing this project and some have complained about it.
A 57-year-old former combat pilot, Renuart also is charged with command and control of the nation’s emerging missile defense system as components are moved into place around the world.
North Korea’s attempted launch of a missile last July shows a need “to protect us against those rogue elements,” Renuart said in a brief interview.
“We will continue to develop that (system) and to test. We have to make sure it is fully tested as we integrate it into our nation’s overall defense.”
More countries developing missiles must be a factor in deciding the long-term future of the Cheyenne Mountain early-warning center, Renuart added. That facility was designed to withstand Soviet nuclear bomb blasts.
“We don’t know what the enemy will look like maybe 15 years from now,” he said. “We don’t want to trade away any capability now that we may need for the future. & We have to be careful not to minimize the possibility that something of a rogue element could provide that kind of threat.”
The outgoing Northern Command and NORAD commander, Navy Adm. Timothy Keating, heads to Hawaii to run U.S. Pacific Command following Senate confirmation this week.
Keating has announced he’ll push for increased military exercises with China. “We hope to gain a better understanding of their intentions,” he told reporters.
China’s recent test of new anti-satellite weapons, successfully shooting down a satellite, raised concerns among U.S. military leaders.
“We find that curious behavior for a country that was proposing a peaceful entry into the league of nations,” Keating said. He noted “a continued incremental increase” in Chinese military capabilities.
The command shift ceremony was held by a runway where fighter jets screamed in and out, featuring cannon blasts and music by the Air Force Academy brass band.
Staff writer Bruce Finley can be reached at 303-954-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com.
