DENVER—The death of Osama bin Laden has special significance for the U.S. Northern Command, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to guard against a repeat, officials said Monday.
“The whole reason Northern Command exists is a direct result of this criminal’s activities,” spokesman Jamie Graybeal said. “(His death is) a great thing. It has a particular importance to the people of this command.”
Northern Command was established in October 2002, a little more than a year after the terrorist attacks. Its job is to lead the military’s defense of the American homeland and to support civilian agencies during national emergencies.
A single commander oversees Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a joint U.S.-Canadian operation that monitors the skies and the ocean approaches of both nations.
Both commands have headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. Outside their headquarters building stands a memorial to the lives lost in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, as well as military personnel killed since those attacks.
The memorial includes a mangled section of a steel beam from the World Trade Center mounted inside a five-sided planter. The soil in the planter came from Pennsylvania and the steel beam points toward New York.
Peterson and two other military facilities near Colorado Springs—the Army’s Fort Carson and the Air Force Academy—raised their alert levels to the third-highest level after bin Laden’s death.
Security measures were causing delays at Fort Carson entrances, spokeswoman Dee McNutt said. She declined to provide specifics.
“We’re being very vigilant at the gates right now,” she said.
Fort Carson has sent thousands of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, and a total of 321 have died in those wars, officials said.
“So our soldiers and family are happy with this turn of events,” McNutt said.
Security measures caused few public disruptions at the Air Force Academy, Lt. Col. John Bryan said.
The academy was going about its business as usual, including preparing for graduation ceremonies scheduled for May 25, Bryan said. Outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates will address cadets.
