US Northern Command
United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM or NORTHCOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense responsible for homeland defense, civil support, and security cooperation in the North American theater. Established on October 1, 2002, NORTHCOM's area of responsibility includes the continental United States, Alaska, Canada, Mexico, and surrounding waters. The command is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado — the same location as NORAD headquarters, with which it shares close operational coordination.
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Oversight of NORAD
US Northern Command serves as the parent command for NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), integrating NORAD's aerospace warning and space surveillance missions into NORTHCOM's broader homeland defense responsibilities. This organizational relationship means NORTHCOM has oversight authority over NORAD's Fast Walker detection operations and classified satellite tracking data.
2013 FOIA Denial to John Greenwald
In 2013, John Greenewald of The Black Vault submitted a FOIA request to US Northern Command seeking documentation on Fast Walkers — objects detected by Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites entering or leaving Earth's atmosphere. NORTHCOM responded that Fast Walker documentation is "currently and properly classified" under Executive Order 13526, stating such information is "considered critical to National Defense or foreign policy and is thus controlled by the US government."
Despite the classification denial, NORTHCOM did release two unclassified research papers:
- "Orbit Determination of Sunlit Illuminated Objects Detected by Overhead Platforms" (1989) by Richard P. Oszx
- "Space-Based Satellite Tracking and Characterization Utilizing Non-Imaging Passive Sensors" (2008) by Bradley R. Townson
Both papers confirmed that ballistic missile early warning satellites (DSP) have been detecting Fast Walkers since 1972, though specific detection events and data remain classified.
Pattern of Denial
NORTHCOM's 2013 denial mirrors the response pattern established by NORAD in 1979 when responding to Barry J. Greenwood and Lawrence Faucet, and continued by US Space Force in its 2023 denial to Greenwald. The consistency across decades and organizational changes demonstrates institutional policy to withhold Fast Walker data regardless of public disclosure trends on other UAP topics.