NORAD
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a bi-national United States and Canadian organization responsible for aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning for North America. Headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, NORAD operates the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, a deep underground military base built to monitor missile threats and track objects in North American airspace and near-Earth space.
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UFO Tracking Since 1957
On January 6, 1967, J. Allen Hynek — scientific adviser to Project Blue Book — disclosed at Goddard Space Flight Center that NORAD has been tracking UFOs since 1957 and that every single continental United States military UFO case in Project Blue Book files is designated as a NORAD case.
This revelation confirmed that while Project Blue Book conducted public-facing UFO investigations, NORAD maintained parallel classified tracking of unidentified objects using the most sophisticated aerospace surveillance systems available to the US military. NORAD's tracking infrastructure includes:
- Ground-based radar networks
- Space-based infrared satellites (including Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites)
- Optical tracking systems
- Data fusion from multiple sensor platforms
Fast Walker Detection and Classification
NORAD, working in coordination with US Northern Command and US Space Force, developed and uses the designation "Fast Walkers" for objects detected entering or leaving Earth's atmosphere at extreme velocities — too fast to be atmospheric phenomena. These detections are made primarily by DSP satellites and other space-based sensor systems.
The Fast Walker designation allows NORAD and related commands to classify and withhold UFO detection data by using technical terminology that falls outside standard FOIA requests for "UFO" or "UAP" information.
FOIA Denials and Cost Barriers
NORAD has consistently refused to disclose UFO/Fast Walker tracking data:
1979 Request by Greenwood and Faucet
Barry J. Greenwood and Lawrence Faucet requested UAP tracking data from NORAD. The command responded that fulfilling the request would require over 118,000 man-hours and cost $155,000 (in 1979 dollars, over $500,000 today). A follow-up request for fee waiver was denied three years later.
2013 Request by John Greenwald
John Greenewald of The Black Vault submitted a FOIA request for Fast Walker documentation. US Northern Command (NORAD's parent command) responded that Fast Walker data is "currently and properly classified" under Executive Order 13526 as "critical to National Defense or foreign policy."
However, NORTHCOM did release two unclassified research papers confirming that DSP satellites have been detecting Fast Walkers since 1972.
Significance
NORAD's 66-year history (1957-present) of tracking UFOs represents the longest continuous government UFO monitoring program known to exist. The volume of data — requiring over 100,000 man-hours to process as of 1979 — suggests NORAD possesses one of the most comprehensive records of UFO activity over North America and near-Earth space.