Introduction: We Have the Watch

The opinions and conclusions expressed in this volume are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Defense University, the U.S. Department of Defense, or any other U.S. government entity, nor those of the Royal Military College of Canada, the Department of National Defence or any other Canadian government entity.

Examples of these works would include: B. Bruce-Biggs, The Shield of Faith: A chronicle of strategic defense from zeppelins to star wars (New York: Simon and Schuster,1988); S. Guerrier, W. Thompson, Eds. Perspectives on Strategic Defense (Boulder, Colorado: Westview, 1987); Stephen J. Cimbala, Ed., Strategic Air Defense (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield 1989); and Joseph T. Jockel, Security to the North: Canada-U.S. Defense Relations in the 1990 s (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1991).

These phrases come from the Trump and prior Harper administrations, but such inward looking priorities in contrast to ideals of liberal internationalism are not exclusive to the U.S. or Canada and can be observed across a range of political spaces, such as the UK with Britain First.

These issues are not, by definition, exclusive to North America but play a particular role in how the key state actors of Mexico, the U.S., and Canada (as well as the Bahamas in this context) construct their respective domestic agendas and approach their bi/tri-regional partnerships.

Speaking in Kingston, Ontario in 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt declared that the U.S. would not stand idly by if Canada were ever threatened. In response, Canadian Prime Minister W. L. Mackenzie King said that Canada’s obligation as a “good and friendly neighbour” was to see to it that enemy forces did not attack the U.S. by land, sea or air by way of Canada. The essence of the bilateral security relationship—its close, friendly and cooperative nature notwithstanding—is that Canada cannot become a security liability for the U.S. After Western Europe fell to the Nazis in the Spring of 1940, the two governments cooperated to secure North America. Following a meeting that August in Ogdensburg, New York, Roosevelt and King issued a declaration of mutual defense and established the Permanent Joint Board on Defense (PJBD).

Ballistic missile defense (BMD) is a role that is currently led and performed by USNORTHCOM.

For discussions on different aspects of the trilateral relationship with Mexico see the work of Simon Dalby and Geoffrey Hale in particular.

Scholarship on North American defense includes Andrea Charron, James Fergusson, Rob Huebert, Joseph Jockel, Ellie Malone, Sara McGuire, Joel Sokolsky, Alan Stephenson, Matthew Trudgen, Dana Tucker, and Paul Aseltine, “NORAD in Perpetuity? Challenges and Opportunities for Canada,” University of Manitoba, 31 March 2014; Andrea Charron, James Fergusson, Nicolas Allarie, Anastasia Narkovich, Joseph Jockel, Joel Sokolsky, Alan Stephenson, Matthew Trudgen, “‘LEFT of BANG’: NORAD’s Maritime Warning Mission and North American Domain Awareness,” University of Manitoba, 8 October, 2015; David G. Haglund and Joseph T. Jockel, “The Non-Vanishing Border: Change and Continuity in Canadian-American Relations,” in Canada: Images of a Post/National Society, edited by Gunilla Florby, Mark Shackleton & Katri Suhonen (New York: P.I.E, Peter Lang, 2009), pp. 55–69; R.D. Hooker Jr., Ed. Charting a Course: Strategic Choices for a New Administration (Washington, D.C.: National Defense University Press, December 2016); Joseph T. Jockel, Canada in NORAD 1957-2007: A History (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2011); Patti Biellig, “NORAD: A Model to Address Gaps in US-Mexico Security Coordination” (School of Advanced Military Studies U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, 2016); Imtiaz Hussain, Satya R. Pattnayak, and Anil Hira, North American Homeland Security: Back to Bilateralism? (Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2008); David G. Haglund and Joel J. Sokolsky, Eds., The U.S.-Canada Security Relationship: The Politics, Strategy and Technology of Defense (Boulder, CO.: Westview, 1989); Stephen J. Cimbala, Ed., The Technology, Strategy and Politics of SDI (Boulder, CO.: Westview, 1987); Joseph T. Jockel and Joel J. Sokolsky, Eds., Fifty Years of Canada-U.S. Defense Cooperation: The Road From Ogdensburg (Lewiston, NY: Mellen Press, 1992).