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By Tom O'Connor
Deputy Editor, National Security and Foreign Policy
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As Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to make his first visit to the United States in a decade, U.S. warplanes that have intercepted Russian aircraft as recently as two weeks ago will soon play a key role in escorting the Kremlin chief to U.S. soil.
"It is an interesting irony that the fabric used to intercept and defend North America from military incursions like those that Russia has done three times so far this year, will be used to protect the Russian president for this upcoming summit," Scott Clancy, a retired Royal Canadian Air Force major general who served as deputy commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)'s Alaska Region, told Newsweek.
NORAD is a unique joint U.S.-Canadian military organization tasked with enforcing security throughout North American airspace. For the U.S., this includes not only the mainland but also Alaska, where NORAD fighters most recently intercepted Russian Tu-95 bombers and Su-35 fighters flying within the state's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on July 22.
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"NORAD conducts aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning in defense of North America," NORAD spokesperson Captain Rebecca Garand told Newsweek.
Yet "in addition to these critical mission sets," Garand pointed out another lesser known role for NORAD—and it's not just tracking Santa Claus.
"NORAD is also responsible for working in coordination with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the U.S., and Transport Canada and NAV CANADA in Canada, to support and enforce Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) areas as well as airspace over National Security Special Events (NSSE), when required or requested," Garand said.
In doing so, she said "NORAD employs a layered defense network of radars, satellites, and fighter aircraft to identify and respond to potential threats."
"NORAD's response to air activity within a NORAD-enforced TFR that is not in compliance with authoritative law demonstrates the Command's execution of aerospace warning and control missions for the United States and Canada," Garand said.
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Advanced Firepower
Separated by just two miles at their closest point across the Bering Strait, Alaska effectively serves as the U.S. front line with Russia. As such, the state is also a hub for NORAD firepower stationed at two primary bases of Fairbanks and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, where President Donald Trump is set to receive Putin on Friday.
In fact, "Alaska is the largest concentration of operational Gen 5 aircraft in the world between these two bases with F-22 Raptors at JBER and F-35s at Fairbanks," Clancy, who is today a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said.
"These bases also are the location for the E-3 AWACS aircraft which does airborne surveillance and tactical battle management for the fighters, and the ever-crucial tanker aircraft without which, due to the extreme distances in the Arctic, nothing happens," he added.
It's not just Russia that NORAD looks out for on this Arctic frontier. Last year, Chinese H-6 bombers joined Russian Tu-95 counterparts for the first time, prompting NORAD to scramble U.S. F-16s and F-35s, along with Canadian CF-18 fighters.
Such encounters, which take place over international airspace designated as Alaska's ADIZ, have also inspired new exercises on the part of NORAD, including a March drill that saw an American B-1 bomber join F-16s and Canadian C-18s showcasing both nation's "readiness to defend North America and respond to global security challenges in partnership," according to a statement by NORAD's Alaska Command.
The following month, in April, Alaska National Guard Major David Bedard reported on how the 176th Air Defense Squadron fielded a "state-of-the-art" third-generation battle command center known as the AN/FYQ-156 Tactical Command and Control System in order to ward off the combined patrol "careening toward the [ADIZ] and bringing the nuclear-capable long-range bombers closer to U.S. sovereign airspace."
How It Works
The precise details of the logistics surrounding the summit are not publicly disclosed for security reasons.
But Clancy spoke of his previous experience during Trump's May 2019 visit to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. While then-NORAD Alaska Region commander U.S. General Boussiere greeted Trump on the tarmac, Clancy "was in the command center directing the intercept of potential threats."
First, he said, the Department of Homeland Security would likely designate the summit as requiring special security protocol, followed by the FAA declaring a TFR that would become active upon Trump's arrival and conveyed across general and commercial aviation.
"NORAD's procedures and systems would work alongside the FAA to identify any deviation from the stringent protocols of the TFR, in order to delineate between normal air traffic and that which is suspicious," Clancy said. "NORAD would then use its fighter aircraft to further delineate between negligent contacts, and those which could be more nefarious."
"They would do so by intercepting the aircraft," he added. "All of this is supported by a complex web of systems and conference calls set to provide decision makers the best chance of getting all the required information to make decisions pertaining to the aircraft and the safety of and security of the principles, especially POTUS."
As for Putin, the protocol for his arrival was even more opaque, not least because his trip will mark the first time a Russian leader steps foot in Alaska since the territory was sold by Russia to the U.S. in 1867.
Clancy suspected that Putin may opt to travel to Alaska without a Russian military escort in order to reduce the likelihood of any "antics" that may "take away from the newsworthiness of the summit" at a time when the Russian leader was "trying to own the narrative and portray himself as the driver of long-term peace in Ukraine."
At the same time, he raised the possibility that the U.S. could also deploy aircraft to escort Putin's flight and potentially do so in coordination with Russian counterparts if necessary.
"If Russian fighter aircraft were escorting President Putin's plane to the edge of or into the ADIZ," Clancy said, "this is where things get interesting."
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'Our Highest Priority'
In any case, the primary agency involved in orchestrating the security protocols surrounding the summit will be the U.S. Secret Service.
The Secret Service, known primarily for protecting the president, also offers security to visiting heads of state. This practice was confirmed in relation to Putin's upcoming visit by former Secret Service agent Robert McDonald in comments shared Tuesday with the official TASS Russian News Agency.
Putin is also expected to bring his own security detail from Russia's Presidential Security Service.
In the U.S., the role of the Secret Service has been in the spotlight over the past year as Trump survived two assassination attempts, one in which he was injured by a sniper's bullet while on the 2024 campaign trail.
Reached for comment, a Secret Service spokesperson told Newsweek that "the safety of the President is our highest priority."
"In order to maintain operational security," the spokesperson said, "the Secret Service does not discuss the specific means and methods used to conduct our protective operations."
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